


Subjective Point of View

by AllisonChance



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e06 Point of View, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Quantum Mirror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-05 05:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3107792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllisonChance/pseuds/AllisonChance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This AU version of S3's episode, "Point of View," imagines what would have happened if Dr. Carter and Major Kawalsky were accompanied by Dr. Carter's 8 year old daughter through the Quantum Mirror. PLEASE NOTE: The first six chapters have been substantially rewritten!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Invasion

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of a larger story that I've been working on off and on for the past few months. I've changed things as needed to serve my story better. While this story may cover some scenes from the episode, I've tried to blend the original dialogue with the changes I've made so that it works as seamlessly as possible.
> 
> I don't have a beta, and if anyone would like to volunteer, I'd be very grateful.
> 
> \-----
> 
> The character death warned about for this story occurred in this chapter when Alternate!Jack was killed.
> 
> I decided to make the connection between Charlie O'Neill and Lottie stronger that Kawalsky will call Lottie "Charlie." Both "Charlie" and "Lottie" are nicknames for Charlotte. I hope it's not too confusing.
> 
> I can't promise a consistent updating schedule, but I do intend to finish this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have completely rewritten the first chapter and plan to rewrite the other chapters as well. One of the biggest changes I've made was to change Lottie's age from 13 to 8. The new age fits her character much better. I'll replace the other chapters with edited versions as I write them.
> 
> Original Author's Note: This story is part of a larger story that I've been working on off and on for the past few months. I've changed things as needed to serve my story better. While this story may cover some scenes from the episode, I've tried to blend the original dialogue with the changes I've made so that it works as seamlessly as possible.
> 
> I don't have a beta, and if anyone would like to volunteer, I'd be very grateful.

“Just one night,” Jack muttered under his breath as he paced the control room. “Just one damn night.”

When word had come that the Goa’uld had hit Cairo, he and Samantha had been in the middle of making their anniversary dinner. The lasagna was in the oven, candles lit on the table, and Lottie was sleeping over at a friend’s house. It was supposed to be just one evening away. Something to provide a reprieve from the tension that had been growing over the past six months.

“What’s our ETA on gate shut down?” Hammond asked.

“Twenty three minutes, sir,” came the reply.

Jack glanced at the clock and swore again. When the call had come in he’d gone to the base and Samantha had gone to get Lottie. He knew that people were panicking and the roads were bad, but he didn’t think it would take over ninety minutes to get their daughter and report to the base. With the phone lines down and the cellular satellites shot out of orbit he had no way of contacting her to find out what was taking her so damned long.

“What’s Voyager’s status?” Jack asked, scrubbing his hand over his face.

“The President’s plane is ten minutes from Peterson Air Force Base.”

Thank God for small miracles, Jack thought ruefully. The Goa’uld, they had learned, were planning to mount an attack on Earth--it had just been a question of when. Of course it was just his damned luck that the one night, the one night they’d tried to forget about it, was the very night they attacked.

“Gate status?” He asked.

“Twenty two minutes and twenty seconds.”

Hammond had ordered the evacuation of all non-essential personnel to the Beta Site and the activation of the Genesis list. Unfortunately, after the first group had left, the Goa’uld had dialed in and were holding the connection open, preventing the SGA from dialing out.

Jack looked down into the Gate Room and grimaced at the sight of Janet and Cassie waiting at the bottom of the ramp. They need Sam there to tweak the dialing program. They needed her to shave off a few precious seconds so that when the connection shut down they could dial out before the Goa’uld jammed them again.

“Another coded transmission in progress,” a female technician said.

“Relay it through the decoder and patch it through the speaker,” commanded Hammond.

Jack turned away from the window. 

The technicians fingers flew across her keyboard and with a swift mouse click a man’s voice cracked through the speaker, “Enemy craft….pursuit...cannot evade.”

Glancing at the radar his heart sank to his boots. All other flights had been grounded. The nearly empty screen provided a stark backdrop for the scene unfolding in the skies above Colorado Springs. The dot representing the president’s plane inched across the screen as a larger dot swooped toward it.

“Come on, Sam,” he said under his breath. Once the Goa’uld were confirmed to be here, the base would be locked down and sealed. 

“Surface radar is tracking,” said an airman.

He clenched and unclenched his jaw. Somewhere, on the surface, his wife and daughter were racing towards the SGA while a Goa’uld mothership hunted down the president’s plane above their heads.

“Under fire! Help...us!” The transmission cut out with a rush of static.

Jack closed his eyes as the words, “AIR FORCE 1 TRACKING LOST” flashed on the screen.

The silence in the control room was palpable.

“It's heading straight for us,” the airman said.

“Confirm, Airman,” said Hammond.

“Trajectory confirmed. ETA, one minute.”

“Damn it! Evacuation gave us away.” Jack slammed his hand against the radar screen.

The technician said, “Intelligence has confirmed that the enemy ships have the firepower to reach us, even this far underground.”

“And we're stuck here as long as the Gate's under attack,” Jack said. Even he could hear the dull resignation in his voice.

“Colonel?”

Jack looked up. Kawalsky poked his head down from the metal spiral stairs, a grin on his face. “Just got a call from top-side Sam’s on her way down.”

“Thank God,” said Jack, exhaling in a rush. “Get them in her directly. As soon as Sam can dial us into the Beta Site, they’re going.”

“Yes, sir,” said Kawalsky, still grinning.

“Enemy ship is slowing down. Visual tracking in ten seconds,” said the technician.

“I want the top ten levels evacuated and sealed,” said Hammond.

He and Jack crowded around the monitor that showed a CCTV feed of the base’s entrance. A dark shadow slid across the screen as the Goa’uld mothership approached the mountain. Smaller gliders darted into view, shooting at the men outside of the entrance.

“What’s it doing?” Jack asked.

“It’s landing,” said Hammond.

No one in the control room spoke as they watched the mothership settle, dwarfing the mountain below it. Even twenty eight levels down they could feel the rumble.

“Jack.”

He spun around to see Samantha and Lottie coming down the stairs, Kawalsky behind them. Sam’s face was pinched with worry and Lottie had red eyes and a blotchy face. She’d been crying, but Jack was proud to see her walking bravely next to her mother.

Crossing the room in three strides he clutched them to his chest. He was not usually this demonstrative while on duty, but a Goa’uld mothership landing on freaking top of them was, he figured, an acceptable excuse to hug the two most important women in his life.

He stepped back, resisting the urge to press a kiss against his wife’s cheek. Already he could see a brisk, business-like mask slipping over her features. He’d always said she would fit right in, in the military--even if she’d laughed at the idea.

“Kawalsky told me that the Goa’uld are dialing in?” Samantha said, her voice steady.

“Yeah. We can’t dial out while they’re dialing in.”

“Under normal circumstances, when we have full power, we can only keep a wormhole established for a set period of time. There may be a restriction on how long the Goa’uld can keep theirs active from offworld,” Samantha said. She fished her reading glasses out of her pocket and perched them on her nose, and hurried across the room to peer at one of the monitors.

“They’ve had the connection established for twenty seven minutes forty six seconds,” explained the technician. 

“Can you work your magic?” Jack asked, gesturing at the computers.

“I can try,” Samantha said, dropping into a chair and pulling up the command interface on the computer.

“Dad?” Lottie said.

Jack looked down at his eight year old daughter. She had Sam’s blue cardigan on over her pajamas. Her glasses were missing and she was holding her pillow and bunny under her arm. That bunny had been a first birthday present from her grandfather, Jacob Carter. Lottie pretended as if she didn’t sleep with it anymore, but her parents knew that it was never far at night.

Last week had been her birthday.

She was too young. Too stinking young to witness the world ending around her.

“C’mere,” Jack said. Lottie launched herself into his arms and started to cry. He lifted her up, ignoring the twinge in his back that told him he was too old to be carrying eight year olds. He rubbed her back and brushed her messy brown hair out of her face. “Stay with your mom, okay, Lottie girl? Help her get us ready to dial out. You’re going to be going to another planet together. Some place safe, and I’ll be right behind you.”

“Promise, Daddy?” she asked, her voice so small and young that it broke his heart.

“Cross my heart,” he said. He kissed her cheek and looked over at Samantha.

His wife’s calm facade was wavering. She knew full well that his promise was empty. Any chance they had to dial out was likely to be their only one. She knew that he wouldn’t be following them,

“Come on, Sweetie,” she said. “Help me look at the programming.”

Jack carried Lottie over and set her down next to her mother. He squeezed Sam’s shoulder.

“Sir,” said the technician, “The surveillance cameras outside the main tunnel entrance show Jaffa assembling what appears to be a weapon. Looks like they’re coming in the front door.”

Hammond gave a curt nod and said, “Jack, I want you to take a team to disable the secondary elevator shaft. I’ll take a second team to guard our back up power supply. If they cut the main power lines, I don’t want us to be caught without power. Dr. Carter, as soon as you’re able, dial out to the Beta Site. Shut the gate down as soon as everyone in this room and the gate room are through.”

“Yes, sir,” Samantha said without lifting her eyes from the screen. Lottie leaned close so that her arm pressed against her mother’s shoulder.

“Kawalsky,” Jack said. “Keep an eye on them.”

“Two, sir,” Kawalsky said, unholstering his gun and moving to where he could cover both the stairs and the door.

Sparing one last look at his wife and daughter, Jack took a fortifying breath before hurrying out the door.

#

Samantha crouched under the desk, pressing back farther into the shadows. Lottie cowered behind her. She had dialed out as simultaneously the Jaffa breached Level 26. She hoped that everyone waiting in the Gate room below had been able to get through before the Gate shut down. She thought they had, she couldn’t hear anything below.

Her heart pounded in her chest. She caught the eye of Captain Harriet Latimer who was wedged between a mainframe and the wall. Latimer raised a finger to her lips and withdrew a gun.

Lottie’s breath hitched and Samantha willed her to stay quiet. The little girl twisted her fingers around her mother’s belt and pressed her face into Samantha’s back. She felt Lottie’s silent hot tears leaking through the back of her shirt.

There were only the three of them in the control room. The technicians that hadn’t left with Jack and Hammond had rushed out of the room as soon as she’d locked the seventh chevron. She could hear them fighting against the Jaffa in the briefing room above. 

Despite two and a half years as a member of SG-1, it still took all of her nerve to rush toward danger and not away from it.

The main power was cut with an audible clunk followed by the blue flickering lights of the back up power supply. Lottie muffled a yelp into Samantha’s back. Samantha used the sudden darkness to reach forward and roll two chairs in front of the desk. They were already hiding under a corner desk, but the more barriers she could put between the Jaffa and her daughter, the better. 

The cold blue light shone on Lottie’s bunny, laying on the floor where Lottie had dropped in her their haste to hide.

Latimer started to ease her way out of her hiding spot but frozen when a body tumbled heavily down the stairs. 

Walter Harriman.

Thankful that Lottie was still hiding her face, Samantha held up her hand and strained her ears listening. Latimer was listening too and as soon as the first heavy tread of a Jaffa boot on the metal stairs reverberated in the silence she slipped back into her hiding spot.

Samantha’s heart stopped. She recognized the Jaffa. It was Apophis’ First Prime, an intimidating mountain of a man known as Teal’c. He had dogged their steps every since the inception of the SGA. He’d killed Dr. Jackson on Abydos on her very first mission. He’d hunted her, Jack and Kawalsky tirelessly on P3X-595. It was his face she saw in her nightmares. 

He paused at the bottom of the stairs before lifting his boot and stepping over Harriman as if he were stepping over a distasteful pile of garbage. Two more Jaffa followed.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Latimer working her way out of her hiding spot, gun at the ready. 

Samantha desperately shook her head, but Latimer didn’t see. The younger woman jumped up from her hiding spot and fired.

The First Prime, clearly expecting her, pounced, staff weapon firing. Latimer’s shot went wild as the airman toppled to the floor, dead. Her chest wound cauterized by the heat of the plasma blast.

Although Lottie had jumped, she didn’t utter a sound. Samantha was proud of her.

The First Prime sneered at Latimer’s body and looked around the control room. He fired a second shot into the mainframe and it exploded in a shower of sparks. He barked an order to the Jaffa behind him and they fired their staff weapons into the monitors.

Something seemed to have caught his eye and he stepped forward and bent, slowly. He picked up the bunny. As he did, his eyes landed on the desk where Samantha and Lottie hid. A horrible smile spread across his face.

Before she could react, he and lunged forward and shoved the chairs out of the way. He snatched Samantha’s arm and yanked her out. Her head banged the underside of the desk as he hauled her to her feet.

“Mom!” Lottie shouted and scrambled out after her. She ran straight at the Jaffa even as Samantha twisted, trying to break free from his grip.

Spun to the side and used the end of his staff weapon to knock the girl to her feet. With a practiced twist he pointed the firing end into Lottie’s face. One of the other Jaffa laughed.

Samantha froze, icy terror shooting through her veins. “Charlotte O’Neill! Stop, just stay calm!” she cried.

Lottie nodded, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

“Kneel,” the First Prime ordered, lifting the weapon so that Lottie could move to her knees. He forced Samantha onto her knees next to her daughter. Lottie’s head bowed, crying, but Samantha glared defiantly up at the broad shouldered man.

He surveyed the doctor and her daughter and looked down at the bunny at his feet. He raised an eyebrow.

“Please, please,” pleaded Samantha. “Please let my daughter go. She’s only a child. Please, just let her go. She’s not a threat to you, I promise. Let her go, please, I beg you.” Dimly she was aware that she was babbling.

Teal’c kicked the stuffed animal toward Lottie. With shaking hands, still crying, Lottie picked it up.

“Thank you,” she whispered.”

There was the sound of a scuffle in the hallway and the Jaffa’s head snapped toward the door. He gestured with his staff weapon and the other two Jaffa jogged out of the room into the hallway. Gun shots and staff blasts echoed into the control room. Ignoring the commotion the First Prime looked down at Samantha with a look of disdain.

“Now, tell me, what is the gate address you have been trying to reach?”

Before Samantha could respond, the Jaffa burst back into the room, frog marching a bloodied Jack between them.

“Dad!” Lottie cried.

Samantha winced at her daughter’s outburst, but she couldn’t blame her. Her own heart had skipped a beat at the sight of her husband.

“Lottie, Sam,” said Jack, horror written across his features.

She closed her eyes, a tear slipping down her cheek. Jack bumped into her as he was shoved to his knees beside her.

“I’m sorry, Jack,” she said.

“It’s okay, Sam,” he said.

“Silence,” said Teal’c, his voice low and deadly. “What is the gate address you have been trying to reach?”

“Sorry, can’t tell you that, buddy,” Jack said. Although his voice was light, Samantha could hear the steel behind it.

The First Prime narrowed his eyes at Jack and without warning shot him with his staff weapon. Jack slumped forward, dead.

Samantha felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. At her side Lottie shrieked and crawled backwards.

The Jaffa grabbed the girl by her hair and jerked her to her feet. He pressed the point of his staff weapon under her chin. He glared at Samantha, his eyes two cold chips of obsidian. “Tell me the gate address.”

An explosion rocked the corridor. Teal’c flicked his attention to the door and shouted an order to his soldiers. The Jaffa ran out of the room into the smoke filled hallway. Her mind raced, trying to come up with a plan, any plan, to get Lottie away from this madman. He turned his attention back to Samantha and Lottie, pulling Lottie’s hair tighter. 

Suddenly, a zat blast came from the stairwell behind her and Teal’c toppled to the floor.

“Sam, Lottie, let’s go!” Kawalsky hissed from above them.

She grabbed Lottie under her arms and pulled the eight year old to her feet. Together they ran to the stairs. She pushed Lottie ahead of her, terrified that at any moment one of the Jaffa would return to report back to the First Prime, or that he would wake. Kawalsky seized Lottie’s arm and hauled her up the last few steps into the darkened briefing room.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he said in a low voice, shoving the zat into the waistband of his pants and lifting up a gun from the table. “Can you get the Gate going?”

 

She shook her head. “Not without the computers.”

Kawalsky swore. He let go of Lottie’s arm and darted to the door, motioning for them to follow. He leaned against the wall beside the door and looked at her.

“Any other way out of here?”

Samantha swallowed and shook her head. Even if they climbed up the access ladder, with the mothership parked on the mountain they wouldn’t have anywhere to go. Suddenly she froze. “The quantum mirror.”

Kawalsky raised his eyebrows and then a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Music to my ears, Doc. Where is it?”

“Level 19, in the storage room outside of my lab.”

“Got it. We’ll have to do some climbing, though. Afraid of heights, Charlie?” he asked.

Lottie blinked at him. Samantha realized, with a sinking feeling, that Lottie was in shock.

“Charlotte Elizabeth,” she said in a stern voice, “Follow us, and do exactly as I tell you.”

The girl nodded though her expression was distant.

“Let’s go,” Samantha said to Kawalsky. He nodded sharply and nudged the door opened.

The hallway was clear and he led Samantha and Lottie out of the briefing room. She knew that the secondary elevator shaft had been blown and had no doubt that the stairwells were swarming with Jaffa. Kawalsky jogged down the hallway to the concealed shaft which ran to the surface. Samantha grimaced. A maintenance ladder ran the height of the shaft.

Kawalsky pulled a wrench out of his pocket and handed it to Samantha. “Get those bolts off then we can swing the door open. I’ll watch our six.”

She nodded grimly and began to work on the bolts. Lottie slid down the wall to huddle against the wall, hugging her bunny to her chest. She looked up at Samantha, her naturally light eyes looking eerie in the blue emergency light.

“Mom?”

“Shhhh,” Samantha hissed, eyes darting back to the briefing room. Kawalsky adjusted his grip on the zat, eyes flicking up and down the corridor. 

Using her fingers once the bolts were loose enough, Samantha twisted them free and shoved them into her pocket. She unfastened the lock and pulled the door open. 

“I’ll go first. Charlie, you follow me. Doc, you've got the rear.” He handed her his gun.

“Got it,” Samantha said. She slung the gun over her shoulder. Jack and Kawalsky carried weapons on missions, she did not. She was a civilian scientist. She could use a gun but prefered not to.

Kawalsky holstered his zat and stepped into the shaft and onto the metal rungs of the ladder. “Quick,” he said. “No one is coming,”

Lottie tucked her bunny into the waistband of her pajama bottoms and kicked off her slippers. “Can’t climb in them,” she said. Her face was pale and solemn.

“Go, quick,” Samantha said, feeling proud of her daughter.

As soon as Lottie was on the ladder and climbing, Samantha darted into the shaft, grabbing the rung of the ladder and swinging herself onto the ladder. She reached behind her and pulled the heavy metal door shut, instantly plunging the shaft into darkness.

“Time to climb,” Kawalsky whispered above her.

Seven levels. Each level spanned approximately twenty feet. 140 feet to climb. Sam tossed her long hair over her shoulder, wishing she’d thought to pull it back in a ponytail. She heard Lottie begin climbing and she reached up and grabbed the next rung.

The climb was slow and agonizing. The darkness seemed to pulse around her, pressing in at all sides. She forced all thoughts of Jack out of her mind. If she let herself think of his body crumpled on the floor of the control room then she would succumb to her grief and she couldn't do that. Occasionally as she reached for the next rung her hand would brush against Lottie’s barefoot. The girl was trembling. Samantha knew she had to hold herself together for the sake of her daughter.

She worried about what they would do if there were Jaffa on level 19 when they reached it.

“Lucky us,” said Kawalsky after it seemed like they had been climbing for hours. Although Sam couldn’t see him, she didn't doubt that he had his ear pressed to the metal hatch, listening. The blasts from the zat were blinding in the gloom and then light from the hallway filtered into the shaft as he pried the door open.

Kawalsky swung off of the ladder. “Wait here, I’ll check if it’s clear.”

“Mom?” Lottie whispered.

“Yes, Honey?”

“Is Dad dead?”

Samantha was saved from answering when Kawalsky held out a hand to help Lottie out. Samantha took in a shuddering breath before climbing the last few feet to the opening.

“We need the remote,” Samantha whispered. They could hear Jaffa marching. The sound was faint; they weren't marching towards them.

“Where is it?” Kawalsky asked.

“In my office.”

“I’ll get it. You take Charlie to the mirror.” The look he gave her was a mixture of determination and grief. He knew Jack was dead. Samantha felt her calm facade waver. “Go,” he said.

She took Lottie’s hand and they ran down the hallway. She paused at the corner, pressing Lottie against the wall behind her. Peaking around the corner she saw that the coast was clear. Without a word she tugged her daughter and they dashed the last fifty feet into the storage closet. 

“Help me move these boxes,” Samantha said. 

Lottie grabbed one of the boxes her mother pointed to and carried it out of the way. In less than a minute they had cleared the boxes away from the mirror.

“What is it?” Lottie asked, reaching for her mother’s hand.

“It’s a quantum mirror, it, ah, it lets you travel between alternate universes.”

“Oh,” said Lottie. “You don’t really do telemetry, do you?”

“No.”

“Okay,” said Lottie.

Samantha knew that under ordinary circumstances Lottie would be badgering her with incessant questions. Her simple acceptance was unnerving.

The door flew open. Samantha jumped and whirled around, stepping in front of Lottie, leveling the gun at the figure in the doorway.

“We gotta trade, Doc, they’re coming,” Kawalsky said. He gave her the remote and she handed him the gun.

“Jaffa, kree!”

“Mom!”

Kawalsky knelt in the doorway and opened fire. Lottie cried out and covered her ears. Samantha spun around to face the mirror and activated it. Her fingers were shaking as she flipped through universes. Universe after universe contained evidence of a Goa’uld invasion--if not Jaffa actively firing at the mirror.

“What about that one?” Lottie asked. She had come to stand next to her mother. The mirror revealed a large darkened storage room.

“Better than nothing,” said Samantha. “Major, come on,” she said.

Kawalsky pulled the pin out of a grenade and tossed it into the hallway.

“Touch the mirror on the count of three: one, two, three--” Samantha said.

They appeared on the other side of the mirror in the dark, quiet room.

The grenade exploded just as Samantha shut off the remote. She took Lottie’s hand and stepped farther into the room. They were not at the SGA. That much was clear. If she had to hazard a guess, she’d say that they were in the secure storage facility at Area 51.

Tentatively she inched forward, holding Lottie’s hand. The air was cool against her bare arms. 

“You sure this is the right one to go to?” Kawalsky asked, holding his gun and on his guard.

“Anywhere is better than the alternative,” Samantha said. 

Alarms sliced through the silence. Lottie jumped and clutched her.

“Guess we’ll see about that,” said Kawalsky.

Armed airmen ran into the room, weapons drawn. Samantha wrapped her arms around her daughter, pressing her head into her chest so that Lottie couldn't see. She recognized the uniforms, but that didn't mean that they were safe.

“Drop your weapons! Do it now!” shouted one of the airmen.

Samantha bent slowly, still holding Lottie, and put the remote on the ground. As she straightened she whispered, “Put your hands up, honey, it will be okay. I promise.”

Lottie sobbed openly as her mother repeated the words Jack had said only an hour before.

Samantha raised her arms, forcing herself to ignore her daughter’s broken sobs. “I’m Dr. Samantha Carter from the SGA. This is Major Kawalsky. We need to speak to your commander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The character death warned about for this story occurred in this chapter when Alternate!Jack was killed.
> 
> I decided to make the connection between Charlie O'Neill and Lottie stronger that Kawalsky will call Lottie "Charlie." Both "Charlie" and "Lottie" are nicknames for Charlotte. I hope it's not too confusing.
> 
> I can't promise a consistent updating schedule, but I do intend to finish this story.


	2. A Heck of a Fork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been rewritten. I decided to eliminate one of the directions the story was going in so that I could present a more cohesive narrative. Most of this chapter has remained untouched except for a conversation at the end of the chapter.

Sam yawned as she pushed the button for the elevator. She couldn't say she was surprised that she’d gotten a call at 5 am asking her to report to the SGC, but she was disappointed. It was the first Saturday she’d had off in weeks and she’d been looking forward to sleeping in and going for a long ride on her motorcycle.

“Sleepy, Carter?” Jack asked.

“Hello, sir,” Sam said. “I wasn't expecting such an early wake-up call. Do you know what this is all about?”

“Nope,” he said. He raised a thermos of coffee to his lips and took a sip. “Hammond was not exactly forthcoming on the phone.”

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.

“Are Daniel and Teal’c here already?” she asked.

Jack shrugged. “Couldn't say. I know that Teal’c was crashing at Daniel’s place last night.”

Sam shoved her hands into her pockets and eyed Jack’s coffee. Her own coffee maker was due to start brewing coffee in a couple of hours and she was probably going to be stuck on base still. She wondered if she had time to grab a cup from the mess before the meeting. She sighed when she realized that if the meeting was so urgent she’d been called in, in the wee hours of the morning she probably didn't have enough time for coffee.

“I’m not sharing, Carter. Could get your girl cooties,” Jack said, holding his thermos away from her.

She held back a smile. He must have caught her longing glances.

“Tell you what,” he said. “Once this meetings over I’ll treat you to the best coffee this base has to offer.”

She snorted, knowing that the so-called “best” coffee on the base was a scalding bitter brew that tasted more like acidic water than actual coffee.

“What? Are you turning up your nose at my generous offer?” Jack asked, feigning offense.

“Wouldn't dream of it, sir,” she said, smiling.

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. Daniel and Teal’c were waiting by the elevator down to Level 27. Daniel looked as exhausted as she felt while Teal’c looked as placid and inscrutable as ever.

“Morning, campers,” Jack said brightly.

“Good morning, O'Neill,” said Teal’c, inclining his head.

“Morning,” Daniel grumbled.

“I’m not sharing with you either,” Jack said, shaking a finger at Daniel.

“What?” he asked, wrinkling his nose and pushing his glasses up.

“His coffee,” said Sam.

“I didn't ask him to share?”

Jack slapped Daniel on the back. “You and Carter have got the same puppy dog eyes when you see coffee this early in the morning.”

The team stepped into the elevator as the doors opened.

“How come you have coffee this early anyway?” Daniel asked.

“I was supposed to be going up to my cabin to spend a few days fishing.” Jack sipped his coffee again. “Lucky for you the general called before I left.” He nudged Daniel with his elbow.

Sam, pleased that the chipper Jack was focusing his far too awake attitude on someone else, smiled at Daniel.

“I do not understand this obsession with coffee,” said Teal’c.

The doors opened and they filed out. Jack launched into a passionate explanation about the merits of great coffee as they headed to the briefing room.

“Good morning, Colonel, Major, Dr.Jackson, Teal’c,” General Hammond said as they entered the room.

As the team took their seats around the table, Hammond began his explanation. “As you are well aware, a year ago Dr. Jackson entered some sort of alternate reality when he touched the quantum mirror. Since we retrieved the mirror it has been understudy in Area 51. Our top scientists have spent countless hours trying to figure out how to make it work, but without the remote, it seemed impossible to activate. Until late last night.”

“What happened, sir?” Jack asked.

“Three individuals emerged from the mirror claiming to be from another universe.”

"Who were they?” Daniel asked.

“See for yourself,” Hammond said. He picked a remote up from the table and turned on the television in the corner. “This is Doctor Carter.”

Sam straightened up. It was her in the video. A disheveled, long-haired Sam Carter, but it was Sam Carter, there was no doubt.

“Look, I've told you this. Now let me talk to someone from the SGA,” said the Sam in the video.

Out of frame, the male interrogator scoffed, “SGA? There is no such organisation.”

Clearly frustrated the Sam in the video said, “Well then you call it something else. The...Stargate Project, Stargate Command--”

“Stargate?” The man interrupted, “What do you know about the Stargate?”

“What do I know?” The Sam in the video huffed in frustration. “Everything! We've been through this!”

“Well, let’s go through it again.”

The Sam in the video threw up her hands in exasperation. “For crying out loud!”

Jack turned to look back at Sam. She gave a little shake of her head. She was just as surprised as he was to hear his catchphrase coming out of her mouth.

“It’s a big round thing,” Sam in the video said as if talking to a particularly stupid person. “It takes you to other planets. I made it work four years ago and we’ve been exploring the galaxy ever since. That is,” she paused and her face looked haunted, “Up until yesterday when the Goa’uld came and started taking over every major city from orbit and making slaves of the population.”

Hammond paused the video.

“Oh my God, this is too weird,” Sam said, staring at the still frame on the television.

“Yeah,” said Jack. “How about that hair?”

Hammond ignored his comment and said, “She claims to have traveled from an alternate universe in the same manner Dr. Jackson experienced a year ago.”

Daniel leaned forward, steepling his hands together. “Well, this can’t be the Dr. Carter I met in the alternate reality. She’s dead.”

“Alright,” Jack said, holding up a hand. “Just to clarify. This Carter is from an alternate, alternate reality?”

“Apparently,” said Daniel.

“Does anybody else have a problem with that?” Jack asked.

“Which reality is actually real?” asked Teal’c

“Thank you, Teal’c,” said Jack, his point validated.

“She explains it,” said Hammond. He fast forwarded the video and then hit play.

“Look,” the Sam in the video was saying, “I know this is hard for you to understand, but according to quantum theory, for every possible universe there are an infinite number of variations, diverging in every choice we make, like forks in the road.”

Hammond paused the video again.

“She’s right,” Sam said. Although the other Sam’s explanation was simplistic and perhaps too vague it did give a general explanation to the multiverse theory.

“You just agreed with yourself,” Jack said.

“No, actually Major Carter just agreed with Doctor Carter,” Daniel pointed out.

“She never joined the military in her reality,” Hammond said.

“Fork in the road stuff?” Jack asked.

“Apparently,” said Daniel.

“Alright,” Jack said, “so it's possible there's an alternate version of myself out there that actually understands what the hell you're talking about?”

“Excuse me, General Hammond,” said Teal’c, “but did you not say that three people emerged from the mirror?”

“I did, Teal’c,” said Hammond. He fast forwarded the video again. Dr. Carter appeared to have talked at length and then the interview was cut short when soldiers abruptly entered the room and escorted her out. The screen filled with static and then a familiar face appeared sitting behind the table. Hammond paused the video.

“Kawalsky?” said Jack. He leaned forward in his chair. “But he’s dead?”

“Apparently not, sir,” said Sam.

"Kawalsky’s interview supports the information that Dr. Carter gave us,” Hammond said. “Their world was attacked by Goa'uld. Their SGC--called the SGA--was overrun by Goa'uld and almost all of the personnel were executed. They managed to escape through the quantum mirror.”

“Who was the third person?” Daniel asked.

Hammond gave Sam a long look. The general’s expression was strangely unreadable.

“Sir?” asked Jack.

After taking a deep breath, Hammond said, “The third person to come through the mirror was Dr. Carter’s eight year old daughter, Charlotte O’Neill.”

Sam gaped at him.

“She has a daughter?” Daniel said, disbelief coloring his voice. “They” he pointed between Jack and Sam, “Have a daughter?”

“Must have been another one of those forks in the road, huh?” Jack said, squirming in his chair.

“No kidding,” said Daniel. “That’s a heck of a fork.”

“Indeed,” said Teal’c.

“The girl has been quite upset since her arrival. It would seem that she witnessed her father’s death at the hands of a Jaffa leader, possibly Teal’c,” Hammond said. He fast forwarded through Kawalsky's interview and hit play again as a girl was lead into the room and seated behind the table.

Sam stared at the girl on the screen, drinking in everything about her. She mentally compared the girl on the screen to the photos of herself as a child, searching for a resemblance. The girl had an oval face, large brown eyes and tangled shoulder-length brown hair. She wore an oversized baby blue cardigan that Sam recognized as one of her own. In her hands she clutched a stuff rabbit toy. Her face was pale and she had dark circles under her bloodshot eyes.

“What is your name?” the man asked from off screen.

“Can I please see my mom?” the girl asked

“Tell us your name.”

“Lottie,” the girl whispered. She looked off to the side where the man was standing. “Please, please, please, let me see my mom.”

“We need to ask you some questions.”

“I want to see my mom. Please,” she dropped her gaze to her stuffed animal. “Please, I want my mommy.” Her voice had dropped and she sounded impossibly young and frightened.

Sam had a lump in her throat and her stomach felt as if it had been filled with ice. If she thought it would do any good, she would have left the room and run straight to Area 51. Strange as it was, that was her daughter begging for her.

“General, is this really necessary?” Jack asked. On screen the girl was hyperventilating around sobs, clutching the tabletop and swaying back and forth.

General Hammond held out the remote and fast forwarded. The man questioning the girl hurried around the table and tried to lean forward to talk to her but she flinched away from him so strongly she tipped sideways out of her chair. 

Sam gasped and Jack turned back to look at her. She covered her mouth with one hand, eyes were wide. He ground his teeth.

The man in the video darted to the door and in seconds (but what would probably have been an agonizing wait of several minutes in real time) medics rushed into the room. They tried to lay the girl flat and elevate her feet but she fought them. Even though there was no sound, it was clear she was shouting something.

This went on for a good thirty seconds (Sam didn't even want to contemplate how much time had actually passed) before Doctor Carter was escorted into the room. Hammond hit play.

“Lottie!” shouted Doctor Carter. She wrenched herself away from the soldiers and dove to the floor.

“Mom, Mom, please don’t let them take me away. Please, Mommy, please,” Lottie cried, clinging to her mother.

“It’s okay, honey. Shhh, I’m here. It’s okay. I’m not going to leave you. I promise.” Doctor Carter cradled the girl in her arms and pressed kisses into her hair. With a glower she looked up at the men milling in the doorway. “How could you do this to her? She watched her father’s execution less than twelve hours ago!”

Hammond paused the video. “As you can see,” he said as he flipped on the lights, “The Goa’uld attack in their world has had serious personal ramifications for our visitors. After this incident, our men were inclined to believe Major Kowalski, Doctor Carter and the child’s story. It was then that I was informed of their arrival.”

“Are they coming here?” Daniel asked.

Hammond nodded. He sat down and resting his elbows on the table leaned forward. “Doctor Carter requested that we delay the transfer until her daughter had had a chance to calm down. Considering it was the actions of our men that triggered her state, I agreed. The video,” he nodded towards the television, “was delivered shortly before I called our briefing together. Currently our visitors are en route. I expect them to arrive at 0800 hours.

“Since this situation involves Major Carter’s alternate self her child with Colonel O’Neill’s alternate self I thought it prudent to call you in and inform you of what has occurred. Perhaps familiar faces will help our guests feel more at ease. Hopefully they have some intel that will prove vital in sparing our world the fate of theirs,” Hammond said.

“Could they be followed through the mirror-thing?” Jack asked.

Hammond shook his head. “Doctor Carter brought the remote through with her. She assured us that without the remote the mirror is inoperable. Dr. Jackson, Teal’c, you are dismissed. Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, I’d like to have a word with you in my office.”

Daniel and Teal’c left the room, but Sam hardly noticed. Her eyes were still glued to the frozen image on the screen. Dr. Carter cradling her daughter while glaring at the the men in the room.

“Carter?” said Jack.

Sam didn't hear him. Her eyes were on the girl.

“Sam?”

That caught her attention. Jack was standing on the other side of the table watching her.

“I’m sorry, sir. I guess I was taken off guard,” Sam said. As she stood she turned her body away so she could quickly swipe at her eyes with her sleeve.

They joined the general in his office.

Hammond sat down behind his desk. “Please, sit down.”

Sam perched on the edge of her chair, hands folding tightly in her lap. Although the Colonel plopped casually into the chair next to her she could tell by the tension in his shoulders that he was as unnerved as she was.

“According to the information Dr. Carter gave us, she worked at their SGC in the capacity as both a civilian contractor and also as a member of SG-1.”

“So, like Daniel,” said Jack.

Hammond nodded. “So it would seem. However, it remains unclear as to why the Air Force would allow a husband and wife to serve on the same SG team.”

“Hey, maybe we’re just that good,” said Jack.

Sam could feel a blush burning its way down the back of her neck. Fixing her gaze on a photo of Hammond and his granddaughters on the shelf behind him she said, “The Air Force in their reality could have different regulations.”

“Perhaps,” said Hammond. “Regardless, I understand that this might be a difficult and uncomfortable situation.” His gazed rested on Jack. 

“I can handle an eight year old,” Jack said. Sam knew he was bluffing. Daniel told her that Charlie had been eight when he died. 

“If either of you would like to be excused for the day, I can recall SG-2 and have Major Ferretti welcome our guests.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Sam. “But I would like to stay.”

“I would too, sir,” said Jack. 

Sam risked a quick glance at him. Although his posture was still casual, a serious stillness had settled across his face.

“Of course,” said Hammond.

“”Is there anything else, General?” Jack asked.

“That is all. You are dismissed.”

In the hallway Sam walked mechanically toward the elevator. Dimly she heard Jack say her name, but she kept walking. All she could think of was hiding away in her laboratory until the other her arrived with their daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that the timeline of events from the episode didn't seem to make much sense. Samantha and Kawalsky arrive in the middle of the night and by the time that Jack arrives in the morning there's been enough time to question them, fly them to the SCG and examine them. I felt that it made more sense for SG-1 to be called in as soon as Nellis decided to hand them over to the SCG and be briefed and watch the tapes. Delaying their departure from Nellis (so that Samantha could calm Lottie) also gave Hammond a way to get his hands of physical copies of the tape before everyone arrived.
> 
> Rewrite notes: The conversation in Hammond's office has been written entirely. This time around Lottie is firmly the daughter of both Sam AND Jack. I also clarified that she does not have an alternate in "our" reality. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think! Thank you :)


	3. Doppelganger

Lottie had finally fallen asleep shortly after the plane had taken off. She was curled up on the seat next to her mother, resting her head in Samantha’s lap. She ran her fingers lightly through her daughter’s hair and stared idly out the window. The countryside below her slid by, entirely unscathed.

The Goa’uld had never been here.

Kawalsky sat across from her devouring a bag of chips. They’d been given sandwiches wrapped in plastic, chips and cans of cola when they got on the plane. Lottie had pushed the food away and gone to sleep and Samantha opened her diet cola but didn't take a sip.

She felt numb. She felt as if she were a bystander watching everything happen to someone else.

In her reality her husband lay dead in the SGA, the planet was razed, the cities burning. Everything she’d ever known was gone. The secure and happy life they’d created in Colorado Springs was gone.

She remembered when they’d first moved there, over two years ago. They’d bought a house, enrolled Lottie in kindergarten and gotten a cat. Everything about the Stargate program had been so bright and full of promise. They could go out and explore the galaxy together and still be home in time for supper and baths and bedtime stories. For those glorious first months they had had everything. And then the specter of a Goa’uld invasion had begun to cast long shadow over their happiness.

Samantha pulled her gaze away from the window and looked down at her daughter. She smoothed Lottie’s hair out of the sleeping girl’s face and fought back a swell of panic.

The drive to pick up Lottie had been uneventful, but as she arrived at the door, she could hear the Borkowskis television in the living room. CNN’s coverage of the Cairo attack filled the air. 

“Did you hear?” Kathy Borkowski had asked as her husband went to find Lottie. “They said the Russians attacked Cairo.”

It was a ridiculously inaccurate statement but Samantha hadn’t been able to crack a smile. She tersely thanked Kathy for letting Lottie come and play and then hustled her daughter to the car as quickly as possible without breaking into a flat out run.

“Mom, I forgot my glasses,” Lottie had complained from the back seat as Samantha revved the engine and peeled out of the driveway.

“We can buy new ones,” Samantha had bit out, flying down the sleepy suburban street. She had flicked the radio on, listening for any news. 

By the time they reached the highway, panic had set in. People had begun to flee to the countryside. It had been like trying to navigate through a swarm of fleeing rats. Gas stations near exit ramps were being looted as she had raced past, swerving around slow moving cars. She had been glad she’d had the foresight to take Jack’s truck. The four wheel drive had proven useful when she’d had to veer off the highway and drive down the median to avoid a backup caused by an accident. 

As she had hurtled down the road closer to the mountain she had seen the giant pyramid hovering in the sky. A mothership. 

“Mom, what’s going on?” Lottie asked. It had been the first thing she’d said since Samantha had picked her up from the sleepover and promised to buy her new glasses.

“The earth is under attack,” Samantha had responded. “Dad and I are taking you some place safe. Another planet.”

“Okay.” That had been her only reaction.

Samantha hadn’t even bothered to park. She’d just screeched to a halt, thrown the truck into park and jumped out. She yanked the back door open and pulled Lottie out. Grabbing the little girl’s hand she had sprinted toward the entrance, dragging Lottie behind her. There was no one in sight guarding the blast door. She knew they had to get inside before the door closed and the mountain locked down. She had been so afraid that they would be too late.

“Doc? You okay?”

Samantha blinked and a tear splashed on the top of Lottie’s head. She hadn't realized she was crying. She turned to Kawalsky and gave him a watery smile. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah, me too,” he said. He crumpled up the chip bag with a somber expression.

She wiped the tears from her face and took a slow, steady breath. From the reactions she’d received when they arrived she was certain that the alternate version of herself was alive and well. And a major as well. Kawalsky and Lottie hadn't been recognized. It didn't mean that there weren't alternate versions of them alive and well in this world, but it did give her a sliver of hope.

A plan had been tumbling through her mind since their arrival. The research she had performed on the quantum mirror suggested that if two individuals from different realities found themselves coexisting within the same reality, Entropic Cascade Failure, ECF, would occur. The temporal forces created by increased entropy would tear apart the interloper at the cellular level. The visitor wouldn't die, per se, so much as be shredded into nonexistence. She’d theorized that the process would take a few years with the cellular shredding increasing exponentially towards the end. As long as she remained in this reality, it was her certain fate. However, if, for some reason, Kawalsky and Lottie didn't exist in this reality (perhaps their alternate selves had died, or hadn't been born), they could stay without any danger of ECF.

She had decided to withhold this particular theory from Kawalsky and especially from Lottie. If her theories were correct she would have at least two years, possibly more, to settle her daughter into this reality. She could perhaps use her knowledge to help this SGA--no, the SGC--prevent a Goa’uld invasion. She would have time to make this world as safe as possible for Lottie. Perhaps her counterpart would be willing to assume the role of Lottie’s mother. She knew that if the roles were reversed she wouldn't hesitate to step in and raise her daughter.  
Samantha leaned down to kiss Lottie’s forehead.

In a few years Lottie would be older. She would be better equipped to understand ECF and what was happening to her mother. They would have time to say goodbye and to mourn. It wouldn't be the same as watching her father being murdered before her eyes.

“Do you think he’ll be there?” Kawalsky said, his voice cutting into her thoughts.

Oh God, Samantha thought. Jack. She hadn't expected that variation. That he would be alive. Her grip on her daughter tightened.

“Sorry, Sam,” Kawalsky said, realizing how distressed his question had made her.

“She won’t understand,” Samantha whispered.

“She’s a smart kid, tough, too. She’ll get it.”

Samantha didn't respond. She looked down at the sleeping girl and wished with all of her heart that she could undo the last twenty four hours.

Twenty minutes later they landed at Peterson Air Force Base. Lottie was groggy when Samantha woke her and as soon as she realized where she was and what had happened, she started to cry.

“Hey there, Charlie,” Kawalsky said, kneeling next to Lottie’s seat. “It’s going to be okay. You’re safe here. Your mom is with you and nobody is going to hurt you. I promise.”

“That’s what Dad said,” Lottie sobbed, clutching her bunny in her hands.

Samantha knew that Lottie was teetering on the verge of hysteria. She wrapped her arms around Lottie and said, “You’re safe, Charlotte, you are. Nothing is going to happen to you. No one is going to take you away from me again.”

“Please don’t leave me, Mommy,” Lottie whimpered.

“I won’t, honey. I won’t,” Samantha said.

“Come on, Charlie,” Kawalsky said as he stood. He offered a hand to help Lottie to her feet.

She took it, shuffling forward in the borrowed boots from Nellis. Samantha sighed in relief, glad that Kawalsky was there to help avert Lottie’s emotional melt down. Once they’d been cleared by the SGA--the SGC--and they could have some privacy, then Lottie could let her guard down and mourn. Then they both could.

When Samantha stood a wave of lightheaded dizziness rushed over her. She swayed, reaching for the seat back to steady herself.

“Doctor Carter?” she dimly heard an airman ask.

She shook her head to clear her grainy vision.

The last thing she heard before darkness consumed her was Lottie’s panicked scream.

#

Janet Fraiser and a nurse met the stretcher on Level 11. Uncanny was the only word to describe the sight that greeted her. Her first inclination was that the pale woman on the stretcher wasn't Samantha Carter. It was someone else.

Someone who happened to look exactly like her best friend in a bad wig.

“Janet,” Not-Sam breathed, a look of surprise and relief on her face.

“Aunt Janet!”

Before Janet could react a girl with tangled hair in an oversized blue cardigan dashed forward and threw her arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

She awkwardly returned the hug and patted the girl’s back, looking over her shoulder to Not-Sam on the stretcher. Sam Carter’s twin looked slightly pale, but otherwise appeared alert and responsive. She had a blanket around her shoulders and the head of the stretcher was inclined so that she could sit. Standing next to the stretcher stood a man that Janet knew from her briefing must be Major Kawalsky.

“Good morning,” Janet said, trying to keep her tone as professional and friendly as possible. She stepped away from the girl as the airmen pushed the stretcher out of the elevator.

She pulled a penlight out of her pocket and asked, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. I was just a little lightheaded. It’s been a long twenty four hours.”

“So I've been told,” Janet said, checking how Samantha’s eyes reacted to the bright light. It was normal.

“Is she okay?” the girl asked, pushing herself as close to the stretcher as she could get without climbing on top of it.

“She’ll be just fine now, Charlie,” Kawalsky said as they moved down the hallway beside the stretcher. “She’s in Doc Fraiser’s hands.”

“When was the last time you ate?” Janet asked. If this Sam was anything like her Sam, meals were often forgotten about. She flashed her badge at the airmen standing beside the elevator that led deeper into the mountain and they opened the elevator doors.

Samantha wrinkled her forehead in thought and then shrugged. “Lunch yesterday? A few bites while I was cooking supper last night, I suppose.”

The stretcher jostled as they wheeled into the elevator.

“Didn't you eat on the plane, Mom?” the girl asked. This time she really had climbed onto the stretcher and sat perched on the edge, feet dangling over the side, holding Not-Sam’s hand in a death grip.

“I wasn't very hungry, honey,” Samantha said.

“Yeah,” said the girl softly. “I wasn't either.”

Janet turned to the nurse and in a low voice said, “I want to start a saline drip as soon as we get her in the infirmary. Also, have three trays of food sent up. I don’t want any more fainting on my watch. And see if you can get your hands on some BDUs and some child-size clothing from the refugee supplies.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the nurse said.

Turning back to her patient, the girl and Kawalsky, Janet said, “I need to run a few tests and I would like all of you to eat something.”

“I’m not leaving, Mom,” the girl said quickly.

“No one is asking you to, Lottie,” Samantha said. She slipped an arm around the girl’s waist and pulled her closer.  
When the elevator stopped on Level 22 the girl, Lottie, didn't get off of the stretcher but remained where she was, clinging to her mother.

The nurse walked briskly ahead to get an IV ready and Janet and Kawalsky flanked the stretcher as the airmen wheeled it through the corridor. Everyone they passed did double takes at the sight of Not-Sam.

Hammond had briefed Janet on the strange appearance of an alternate Sam earlier that morning. She understood that he had briefed SG-1 first. He asked her to run blood work and compare dental and medical records to verify their identities. Nothing he had said had prepared her for the unsettling reality of coming face to face with Sam’s alter-ego.

This Sam’s long hair softened her features and she wore more makeup than Janet had ever seen their Sam wear--even if it was smudged and tear streaked. There was a vulnerability hiding just below the surface unlike anything Janet had ever seen on her friend’s face. She also recognized the protectiveness in the way this Sam held onto her daughter. It was the same way Janet held Cassie when the thirteen year old was sad or afraid.

Inside the infirmary Samantha and Lottie changed into hospital gowns behind the same curtain. Lottie sat on a chair next to her mother’s bed as the nurse inserted the IV line and set up the bag of fluid.

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

“Not at all.”

“Dad hates needles,” Lottie said.

“You father is a wimp,” Samantha said. The first smile Janet had seen ghosted across her face. Lottie returned the smile before her face crumpled and sobs overcame her. Samantha pulled her up into the bed next to her, holding her close.

Feeling that mother and daughter needed some privacy, Janet drew the curtain closed around them and turned her attention to Major Kawalsky.

“Come with me, Major,” she said. “Let’s get an x-ray of your teeth.”

“Lead the way, Doc,” he said with forced cheerfulness.

By the time the trays of food arrived she had finished the the x-rays and drawn Kawalsky’s blood. A lab tech had taken it to find out the blood type. She’d also done an ultrasound of the back of his neck and determined that he was Goa’uld free. When he’d asked why, she’d given him a brief synopsis of the fate of his counterpart in this reality.

“That explains the looks I got when we were going through security top-side,” he said. “Can I get out of this now?” He plucked the hospital gown. “These are never my best look.”

“Sure, one of the airmen can escort you to the locker room so you can shower and change.”

Kawalsky hesitated, glancing towards the curtained off bed where Samantha and Lottie were. Janet couldn't hear any more crying, just the low murmur of Samantha’s voice.

“They’ll be okay, Major,” Janet said gently.

“Keep an eye on them, Dr. Fraiser,” he said, his voice serious and low. “They’re all I've got left." His eyes were haunted.

“I will,” Janet promised. “They’ll be safe with me.”

He cracked a smile and hopped up from the edge of the bed. “I know they will. Alright, airmen, which of you lucky boys gets to take me to the showers?”

Janet drew back the curtain around Samantha’s bed to find the woman laying on her side, curled around her daughter. Lottie’s arms were snaked around her mother, clutching the back of Samantha’s hospital gown in her fists. Samantha rubbed Lottie’s back, whispering a lullaby into the girl’s hair.

Hating to disturb them, Janet softly cleared her throat. Lottie seized her mother tighter, but Samantha stopped singing and looked up.

“I can run the tests a little later, but I thought you two might like something to eat right now.”

Prying Lottie loose, Samantha sat up and swept her long hair over her shoulder. Janet could see a necklace tucked under her high neckline of the gown and the glint of a wedding band on her finger. “Sit up, Lottie. You need to eat,” she said.

“You need to eat, too,” Janet said firmly taking a tray from a nurse and handing it to Samantha.

Lottie sat up and shuffled closer to her mother.

Janet had asked for a selection of Sam’s favorite foods to be sent up. She hoped that Samantha liked the same food and that familiar and favorite foods would entice her to eat.

“Jell-o,” Lottie said, smiling around a hiccup. She started to reach for it, but then stopped to look at her mother.

Samantha picked it up and handed it to her. “Today is a dessert first day, I think,” she said.

Lottie’s smile grew and she leaned against Samantha as she devoured the jiggling blue mass.

Janet sat down on the chair beside the bed. “How old are you, Lottie?” she asked, hoping to unravel the mystery before her.

“She’s eight,” Samantha said. She’d claimed a bowl of soup for herself.

“That’s a few years younger than my daughter, Cassie.”

“Cassie?” Lottie perked up. “Is she feeling better?”

“Feeling better?” Janet asked, confused, wondering how Lottie could know about Cassie’s terrible case of gastroenteritis.

“Yeah, she had to miss chess on Saturday because she was puking. She said threw up everywhere at school on Friday. She said her teacher even started gagging.” Lottie giggled a little at the memory and Samantha smiled.

Janet laughed. “Oh, yes, she’s better. I don’t think that Mr. Collins will ever recover, however. That was the most panicked phone call from school I've ever received.”

“I’m glad she’s okay,” Lottie said. She shifted so that she could relax against the inclined head of the bed. Then she paused, looking worried. “Is our Cassie okay, Mom?”

“I’m sure she is, honey,” Samantha said, setting her bowl of soup down on the tray. “Aunt Janet took her to the new planet. Remember? We waved at them when they were in the Gate room. She’ll keep Cassie safe.”

Janet shifted in her chair. Despite being curious about the other her, she bit down the urge to ask any questions.

She heard the whistling before Colonel O'Neill sauntered into the room, hands in the pockets of his BDUs. He drew up short at the sight of Samantha and said, “Whoa.”  
“Daddy!” shrieked Lottie. She tumbled out of the bed, throwing the blankets back and knocking the tray of food on the floor.

“Lottie!” Samantha lunged at her daughter, yelping in pain when she pulled at her IV. The sudden lurch toppled the IV stand and caused it to crash into a nearby monitor.

Lottie flew across the infirmary and launched herself into Jack’s arms. “Daddy! Daddy, you’re not dead! I’m so glad you’re not dead.”

Jack staggered backward, automatically hugging the girl, looking utterly flummoxed.

Samantha, yanked the IV pole upright and dragged it across the floor toward Jack and her daughter. “Lottie, come here,” she said.

“Mom, it’s Dad. He’s alright. He’s not dead,” Lottie said. She craned her neck to look at her mother without releasing her hold on Jack. She laughed and burrowed her face back into his chest.

“Oh, honey. This isn't...he’s not…” Samantha’s eyes closed and she swallowed thickly. “Come here, Charlotte. Let the Colonel go.”

Lottie leaned back to look up into Jack’s face. Hope and joy warred with pain and fear in her expression. “Daddy?”

“I’m sorry, kid, I’m not your dad,” Jack said. Although he spoke kindly, his words seemed to stab Lottie.

She staggered backward, horrified and disgusted. Samantha grabbed her as the girl’s legs gave way.

Janet darted forward to help Samantha support the child. “Let’s get her into a bed,” she said.

“No!” screamed Lottie, trying to fight free. “Let me go. I want to go home.”

Samantha glowered at Jack and snapped, “She was there when he was killed. How dare you stroll in her like nothing happened?”

“I need a sedative,” Janet said. “What does she weigh?” she asked Not-Sam.

“About a fifty five pounds,” Samantha grunted, ducking Lottie’s flailing arm and tearing her eyes away from Jack to look at her daughter.

Janet called out the dose and medication she wanted and held out her hand for the syringe the nurse handed her. Lottie was twisting, crying and begging to go home as Janet jabbed her in the thigh. She passed the empty syringe back to the nurse and rubbed the injection spot.

“Shhhh, shhhh,” she said. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

“Mommy, please,” Lottie whimpered, her movements heavy and clumsy.

Samantha, kneeling on the ground next to her, rocked her in her arms. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. I love you.”

“Mommy...” Lottie said as her eyes slid closed.

“Oh, Lottie,” Samantha whispered, pulling her close and kissing her cheek.

Janet nodded and two nurses stepped in to transfer Lottie into a bed. As they lifted the girl out of Samantha’s arms She noticed that Samantha was trembling, her head bowed. “Into bed for you, too, I think,” she said.

Jack stood a few feet away looking lost.

“Colonel, perhaps you could step out for now,” Janet said.

“Right,” he said. His eyes flickered to where one nurse was tucking a blanket around Lottie while another set up a line.

“I’ll watch them,” she said echoing the promise she had made Kawalsky earlier.

He nodded and swiftly left the room.

Janet helped Samantha stagger to her feet. The overwrought woman only returned to her own bed when Janet threatened to sedate her as well.

Kawalsky, freshly showered and in clean BDUs, wandered into the infirmary as Janet was checking the state of Samantha’s IV after her mad dash across the room dragging it in her wake.

“Jeez, Doc. What happened?”

“Jack came,” Samantha said dully. She was on her side, facing Lottie. She held the stuffed rabbit Janet remembered Lottie holding earlier in one hand.

Kawalsky ran his hands over his head. “Aw, shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that I lifted some of the dialogue from the episode and used it differently in this chapter. Some of it became part of Samantha's internal musings and some was spoken earlier or by different characters. I don't want this story just to be a plain rehashing of the episode with Lottie jammed in, I want it to flow naturally. I hope that by tweaking where and when canon dialogue appears that I can make it as natural as possible.
> 
> After some debate I decided to write part of this chapter in Janet's POV. I tried to write it in both Sam and Samantha's but I found that at this point in the story both characters are too emotionally overwrought to make good view point characters. Hopefully approaching the second half from Janet's POV kept it from becoming too bogged down with conflicted internal thoughts/feelings.
> 
> Rewrite Notes: I've changed little things here and there in this chapter. The biggest change is when Samantha is reflecting on when she went to pick up Lottie from the sleepover. I was never really satisfied with how I had originally written it. It seemed too jumbled/distant. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but I like this version better.
> 
> I also decided that if the SGC is ready to accept refugees at any time (as evidenced by the number of times they offer it as an option to various peoples under attack/threat of attack/facing natural disasters) they probably have basic clothing items for various ages on hand.
> 
> Let me know what you think and thank you for reading.


	4. Stick Figures

Sam puttered around her lab for five agonizing hours. Normally she would have been engrossed in running a simulation or dismantling a new piece of alien tech, but that morning she’d felt too out of sorts to settle on any one task. Her lab was littered with half-finished projects and every time she started a simulation up, she shut it down through the task manager before it could really get running.

This was now the second alternate reality in which she and her superior had been involved in a romantic relationship. Daniel had gotten such a kick out of teasing her about it the first time around. For an intuitive guy, he really couldn’t take a hint sometimes. It didn’t help that her memories of the Touched virus were a lot less foggy than she liked to pretend. From the Colonel’s off-hand comment about her tanktop, she’d wager that his memories were just as clear as hers.

Sam groaned and leaned forward, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. Almost two years later and the memories were still mortifying.

Thankfully (the Colonel’s one comment aside) everyone seemed happy to pretend that the incident had never happened. It helped that she had plenty of blackmail fodder of her own, thanks to Hathor.

She wondered if those events had transpired similarly in Dr. Carter’s reality. Just how many differences were there between the two realities?

Pushing aside the tangled wires of a piece of her prototype naquadah reactor, Sam slid a pad of paper in front of her. She clicked her pen once and tapped it lightly against the side of her face.

“Differences Between Primary and Secondary Realities,” she scrawled across the top of the page.

She began with a bullet-point list.

  * Major Sam Carter vs. Dr. Samantha Carter
  * Dr. Carter is married to O’Neill
  * Carter and O’Neill have a child (Charlotte? 8 y.o.?)
  * Kawalsky is alive (not a Goa’uld?)
  * SGC vs SGA
  * Goa’uld attack (seems to have followed pattern Daniel related from his trip through Q.M.)
  * No Daniel in that reality?
  * Teal’c not in SG-1? (otherwise is dead?)



Sam paused and stared at her list. If she knew all of the variables, would it be possible to determine the moment of divergence? And, even if she could, what would be the benefit? She underlined the title and drew boxes around each bullet point as she thought.

At least the girl gave her one of the earliest known point of divergence. Hammond said that the girl was eight. She counted back in her head, to figure out where she had been eight years before.

Desert Storm.

“Okay…” muttered Sam to herself. “So, the divergence happened before that.”

It probably happened, she realized, before she went to the Academy--or at the very least, before she graduated. Sam tapped the pen against the pad, scouring her brain for possibilities.

“Oh,” she said, realization dawning. “The scholarship.”

Fourteen years ago she had applied for a scholarship to Caltech. She wanted to study physics. Her dad had been pressuring her to go into the Air Force, dangling NASA in front of her like a giant carrot. She hadn’t gotten the scholarship, so she’d gone military. But what if….what if…

“Hey, Sam, you hungry?” Daniel said, breaking into her thoughts. He leaned against the doorway, arms crossed.

Sam flipped the pad of paper over and gave him the most innocent look she could muster. “Is it time for lunch already?” It was a quarter after eleven. She knew that already. Her clock had been mocking her all morning.

“Want to grab a bite to eat?”

“Sure,” said Sam. She opened a desk drawer and stuffed the pad of paper inside.

“They’re here,” he said in response to her unspoken question as they stepped into the elevator.

“Huh,” she said as casually as she could manage. Trying to pretend like she hadn't spent the entire morning wondering if they’d arrived yet.

“Janet’s got them in the infirmary.”

“You been to see them?” she asked sticking her hands in her pockets to keep from fidgeting.

“Not yet. She doesn't want them to have any visitors.”

“Huh,” Sam said again. She wondered if she went down to the infirmary if Janet would let her in. Then again, she didn't know what she would say if she did go down to visit. How did you start a conversation with yourself?

“I heard that the other you arrived on a stretcher.”

“A stretcher?” she said as she followed him out of the elevator and towards the commissary.

“Yeah, well...Charlotte Elizabeth was on the stretcher, too. It’s not clear if the girl was sick or if you were.”

Sam stomped down a flare of worry. “I’m sure Janet has it all under control.”

“Yeah, probably,” Daniel agreed.

He didn’t elaborate and Sam resisted the urge to ask him any more questions. Wordlessly she followed him through the lunch line, filling her tray with food she suddenly found she had no appetite for. Daniel seemed to pick up on her mood and when they sat down hel judiciously changed the topic. Sam picked at her soup and ate a few bites of jell-o before pushing her tray away.

“Not hungry?” Daniel asked.

“Not really,” she said.

“Room for two more?” Jack asked dropping into the seat across from her. Teal’c sat down beside him.

“Have you been to see them?” Daniel asked.

A funny look crossed Jack’s face and he glanced at Sam before answering. “Yep.”

“How are they?”

“Dr. Fraiser was forced to close the infirmary to visitors after O'Neill left,” Teal’c said.

“What? Why?” Sam asked, sitting up straighter.

Jack shrugged and took a large bite of his mashed potatoes.

Teal’c said, “The child was disturbed to see her father alive. He is dead in her reality.”

“Well, that’s understandable,” Daniel said, pushing up his glasses. “I’d be ‘disturbed’ too if I thought my father was dead and then he showed up alive and well.”

“Lottie saw it happen,” Jack said. He stabbed a slice of chicken with more force than was strictly necessary.

“Oh my God,” Sam said, covering her mouth. She’d forgotten that detail from the briefing.

Jack met her eyes and pressed his lips together. “She’ll be okay, Carter. She’s got her mom there.”

“Yes, sir.” Sam intently fished around in her soup for a carrot.

“Hammond wants us to debrief with them at 1300 hours,” Jack said. “That going to be okay?” His question was posed to the group, but his eyes were still on Sam.

She nodded  
.  
“Good,” he said.

“Did you say the girl was called Lottie?” Daniel said.

“Indeed,” said Teal’c. “O'Neill informs me that this is a shortened version of her given name.”

“Charlotte,” said Daniel. “You think you named her after Kawalsky?” he asked Jack.

He shrugged. “Probably. Must be my thing. Name kids after him.”

It had never occurred to Sam that Charlie had been named after Charles Kawalsky, but it made sense. Kawalsky had been one of Jack’s oldest friends. She wondered if she--the other her--was the reason Charlotte was called Lottie and not Charlie. She supposed it would be rude to ask. Then again, to ask, she’d have to work up the courage to actually seek out the other Sam.

“What do you think she’s like?” Daniel said.

“Who? Lottie?” said Jack.

“No, the other Sam.”

Jack shrugged. “She’s got,” he gestured vaguely, miming long hair. “She practically tore out her IV trying to get to Lottie. Knocked it over and everything. Then dragged it across the room.”

Daniel nudged Sam with his elbow. “Sounds like you.”

“I’d have taken it out first,” Sam said even though she knew she probably wouldn't have. She’d probably have dragged the fallen pole across the room, too.

“Does Lottie have any brothers or sisters?” Daniel asked Jack.

Jack gave him a how-the-hell-should-I-know look. Sam stared at her food wishing Daniel would stop asking questions.

“You know, it’s pretty interesting that in both alternate realities we've discovered, you and Sam have been romantically involved.”

“Oh, it’s just riveting, Danny,” Jack said dryly. “Maybe it’s the reason the world keeps ending.”

Sam felt compelled to speak up. “The alternate versions of myself weren't in the military in either reality. That could be the reason.”

“Big enough ego, Carter?” Jack said.

“I was not a part of SG-1 in either reality,” said Teal’c. “Perhaps it is my addition to the team that makes the difference.”  
“Or it could be me,” said Daniel. “I’m either dead or out of the picture, too.”

Jack shoved his plate back. “This kind of speculation is worthless. All that matters is that both of those other realities are toast and we’re not. I’m not going to question why we haven’t been creamed by the Goa’uld yet. If we’re safe here, we’re safe. That’s what matters.” He pushed away from the table and stood up. “See you at the briefing,” he said and then spun on his heel and left.

“What bee got into his bonnet?” Daniel asked after Jack was gone.

“I believe that Colonel O'Neill is worried about Dr. Carter and her daughter.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Daniel said before he returned to his food.

Sam drowned the urge to analyze Daniel’s comment by speedily eating the rest of her lunch. She quickly made her excuses to Daniel and Teal’c and retreated to her lab until the briefing.

Her brain felt scattered and disorganized so she decided to straighten up her work space instead of going back to the designs for the prototype naquadah reactor she’d been working on the day before. As she gathered up her notes and blueprints she came across Merrin’s original technical drawing of the reactor and beneath that, a page filled with stick figures.

She remembered how Merrin had surreptitiously practiced the drawing over and over with different colored pens while sketching the reactor schematics. She was pretty sure that watching Merrin experiment with stick figures had been part of the reason why Jack had sneaked Merrin off-base and into an art class. She smiled, thinking of Merrin’s delighted expression at the gift of a box of crayons.

Sam had liked to draw. She used to spend hours drawing spaceships and Star Wars characters as a kid. Her drawings had evolved into little paper models and then she’d advanced onto raiding the trashcan for supplies to make her rockets. It had been a long time since she’d drawn a picture for the fun of it.

She traced her fingers over Merrin’s drawing and chewed on her bottom lip. Merrin was just a little older than Lottie’s age, and Merrin had like drawing. Cassie also liked to paint and draw. She gathered up a fresh pad of graph paper and all of the colored pens she could find. She would take them down to the infirmary and give them to Janet. Just drop them off.

“I’m not going so I can see her,” she muttered as she snapped a rubber band around the bundle of pens. “I’m sure she’s bored. I’m just being nice.”

The infirmary was only two levels down and Sam found herself outside the door sooner than she’d expected. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, unable to bring herself to go inside.

A nurse opened the door and with a startled gasp, stepped to the side to avoid walking straight into Sam. “Major Carter, excuse me!”

“Sorry!” said Sam, taking a step back. “I just wanted to drop some things off--”

“It’s okay, I wasn't looking where I was going,” the nurse said. She stepped around Sam with a smile and held open the door.

Suddenly aware of her heart pounding into her ears, Sam entered the infirmary. She spotted them immediately.

The girl, Lottie, was dressed in a gown laying in the bed. She had an IV fluid drip, and a pulse oximeter on her finger. Doctor Carter was sitting on the edge of her bed, one arm wrapped around her daughter and holding her hand. Lottie’s eyes were closed and she leaned heavily against her mother. Sam would have thought she was sleeping if not for the way she was squeezing Doctor Carter’s hand.

Sam stared, mesmerized by the differences between herself and Doctor Carter and by the girl on the bed. Doctor Carter’s hair was long, spilling over her shoulders and falling into her face. She too was dressed in a hospital gown, but she had a necklace on and wore a wedding band. Lottie had short brown hair and even though she was lying down, Sam could tell that she was tall for her age. She was easily only a few inches shorter than Cassie despite the age difference.

“Here we are,” Janet said brightly, entering the room from the direction of her office. “I found some BDUs for you, Dr. Carter and I think that these clothes will fit Lottie.” Her step faltered when she saw Sam standing in the doorway. “Major Carter,” she said.

“Dr. Fraiser,” Sam returned the formal greeting.

Samantha’s head snapped up and she gave Sam a scrutinizing look. “Nice...hair,” she said.

“Uh, Air Force,” Sam said. She adjusted her grip on the pens and pad of paper.

“I can’t imagine I would go into the military,” Samantha said.

Something about the way she said it plus her recent musings on the lost Caltech scholarship put Sam on the defense. “Wow,” she said. “I can’t imagine not.”

Janet set the pile of folded clothes at the foot of the bed. “Lottie, can you sit up, sweetheart? I’m going to remove the cannula so you and your mom can go get dressed.”

Lottie sat up, staring openly at Sam.

“Hi,” Sam said. She tried to sound friendly but ended up sounding nervous and awkward.

“Hi,” said Lottie. She turned to her mother and said, “Is there a twin of everybody here?”

Samantha brushed a lock of Lottie’s hair out of her face and said, “Yes, honey.”

“Even me?”

Samantha shot a look at Sam.

“I don’t have any children,” Sam said.

“Looks like you’re one of a kind,” Samantha said, visibly relaxing.

Dr. Carter was worried about Entropic Cascade Failure, Sam realized. Kawalsky was safe from it--his twin in this reality was dead, and Lottie was safe, too. Dr. Carter, however, would inevitably succumb to it within the next few years.

“There we go,” Janet said, handing the cannula and tubing to a nurse. “Just a bandage and we’re all set.”

Lottie looked down at her arm and wiggled her fingers. “That didn't hurt much.”

“You’re just a tough cookie,” Janet replied.

Sam crossed the room and set the paper and pens down on the table beside the bed. Being so close to her double set her teeth on edge. Samantha was intimately familiar and yet wholly alien all at once. She forced herself to ignore Samantha and addressed Lottie instead. “I brought some paper in pens in case you like to draw.”

A real smile unfolded on Lottie’s face. “I love to draw.”

“She draws her own paper dolls,” Samantha said.

“Mo-om,” Lottie whined, her cheeks pink. “I used to do that. I outgrew it.”

“Too bad,” Janet said. “Cassie loves to make paper dolls.”

Lottie reached across Samantha to pick up the paper and pens. “Well, maybe I still do it...sometimes.”

Janet winked at her and Lottie smiled.

Sam was envious of how naturally her friend interacted with children. Kids opened up for her, trusted her. The only child who had ever really opened up for Sam was Cassie. Not even Merrin had, really. Merrin had acted like a miniature adult and Sam had been comfortable treating her like one. Of all of the people in the SGC, Janet and Jack were easily the most comfortable with children.

“Why don’t you and your mom go shower and change and I’ll see if I can scrounge up more pens or even some crayons,” Janet said.

“Sounds good to me,” Samantha said. “It’s time to get out of these gowns, don’t you think?”

“Yep,” Lottie agreed. She slipped off the bed and gave Sam a shy look. “Thank you...um, what should I call you?”

Sam didn't know how to respond. Samantha looked equally flummoxed. Thankfully Janet spoke up, “If it’s not too strange, you could call her ‘Sam.’”

Lottie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Maybe,” she said.

Janet picked up the clothes and handed them to Samantha. “The showers are through there.”

“Thank you,” Samantha said. She shepherded her daughter out of the infirmary, casting one last look at Sam over her shoulder before she left.

Janet exhaled. “This is bizarre.”

“Tell me about it,” Sam said.

“It was nice of you to think of Lottie,” Janet said. “I’m going to go through Cassie’s closet tonight and look for anything that’s too small for her. I can’t believe how tall Lottie is. Well,” she laughed and looked at Sam, “Actually, I guess I can.”

“Cassie and Merrin like to draw, so I figured she probably would, too.”

“Good thinking,” Janet said. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” Sam said.

“Uh-huh,” Janet said. “Well, when you’re ready to talk, I’m here. Not just as your doctor, you know.”

“I know, Janet. I’m fine, really,” Sam said.

“My offer is always good,” Janet said.

Sam shoved her hands into her pockets. “Thanks,” she said.

#

Jack was already in the conference room doodling on his notepad when she arrived.

“Carter,” he said.

“Sir,” she said in response. She took the seat closest to the door and shuffled through her notes on the Quantum mirror. Several minutes of silence stretched between them. At last she spoke, “I brought some paper and pens for the girl.”

Jack stopped doodling and looked up at her. “She like that?”

“She said she did.” After a moment she volunteered, “Dr. Carter says she likes to draw paper dolls.”

“Paper dolls, huh?” Jack said. He resumed his doodling.

Sam turned back to her notes.

“So, how are you doing...with the whole twin and daughter thing?” Jack asked without stopping his doodle.

Sam forced a laugh. “Do you have a couple of hours?”

Jack paused and then set his pen down. “Okay.”

“That was…” Sam floundered. “That was my answer.” She hadn't expected him to take her answer seriously. Joking was their way of handling stress. A droll comment here, a wry observation there.

“Oh,” said Jack, now as off-kilter as Sam.

They were spared any further awkward conversation by the arrival of Teal’c and Daniel. Daniel was trying to explain the idiom “the best thing since sliced bread.”

“So, if something is especially innovative or impressive, we say it’s the best thing since sliced bread.”

“But bread has always been sliced, DanielJackson,” said Teal’c. “I do not understand why it is desirable to compare anything to something as mundane as bread which has been sliced.”

“But that’s the thing,” Daniel said. “You couldn't purchased sliced bread until the 1930s. It was marketed as the greatest step forward in the baking industry. The idiom refers to the technological advance that allowed consumers to buy pre-sliced bread.”

“I always find their conversations so fascinating, don’t you, Carter?” Jack said.

“Yes, sir,” Sam replied returning his amused look, relieved that things had returned to normal.

“Good afternoon,” General Hammond said as he entered the room.

Jack and Sam got to their feet and Teal’c inclined his head in greeting.

“Our guests will be here shortly,” Hammond said, gesturing for Sam and Jack to sit as he took his place at the head of the table. “I understand that Dr. Carter’s daughter had a difficult time deciding whether or not to join us for the briefing.”

“Oh?” said Jack.

Hammond frowned and sighed. “It would seem that her father was executed in the control room.”

“Yeah, that could be a little traumatic,” said Daniel.

Out of everyone in the room, Sam realized, Daniel probably understood Lottie’s feelings the best. She knew that he’d been about eight when he witnessed his parents’ death. Of course, there was a distinct difference between a tragic, accidental death and a calculated execution.

“I don’t want to go in, Mommy.” They heard Lottie crying as soon as the elevator doors opened on the other end of the corridor. If Samantha responded, they couldn’t hear.

Hammond motioned for one of the airmen to step into the hallway to lead their guests into the room.

Samantha entered the room first. She was dressed in BDUs and her damp hair was pulled back from her face in a simple braid. Kawalsky followed carrying a sobbing Lottie. The girl’s face was pressed into his neck and she clung to his shirt. As soon as Kawalsky spotted Teal’c dumped Lottie into Samantha’s arms pushed them both back out of the door shouting, “What the hell is he doing here?!”

The airmen their guns and Lottie screamed as SG-1 leaped to their feet.

“Kawalsky!” Jack roared.

“He’s a member of SG-1,” Daniel said, defending his friend.

“Who the hell are you?” Kawalsky said, rounding on Daniel.

“Oh, um,” Daniel said, “I’m Dr. Daniel Jackson--also a member of SG-1.” He gave a little wave and dropped into his chair.

“Have a seat, Major,” Hammond said sharply to Kawalsky, pointing at the empty chair beside Daniel.

Glowering, Kawalsky pointed at Teal’c before stalking around the table and reluctantly slouching into the chair.

Samantha, pale, gave Teal’c a wide berth as she carried Lottie around the table. She took the empty chair beside Jack and Lottie sat down next to her. Lottie pulled her chair as close to her mother as possible and wound her arms around Samantha and hid her face in Samantha’s shoulder.

Sam sat as well and picked up her pen. She twisted it between her fingers. From her seat on the other side of the table she could see Lottie trembling.

Jack gave Samantha and Lottie a long, unreadable look before retaking his seat.

Taking a deep breath, Hammond sat and said, “First of all, I would like to say we know what you've been through. Dr. Jackson experienced a similar alternate reality some time ago on a mission to P3X-233.”

“That’s where we found our Quantum Mirror as well,” Samantha said. “The reality Dr. Rothman encountered was overrun with Goa’uld. He was lucky to escape with his life.”

Hammond nodded. “Fortunately for us, Dr. Jackson was able to return with intelligence that enabled SG-1 to stop the Goa'uld attack here on Earth.”

“That goes a long way to explain why yours was one of only a handful of alternate realities that looked like it hadn't been overrun by the Goa'uld,” Samantha said. She freed her arm from Lottie’s grip and settled it around the girl’s shoulders. Lottie pulled her feet up and curled up in the chair, still shaking.

“Actually,” Sam said, speaking for the first time, “It's probably the very differences that set our universe apart from yours that have contributed to our survival. Daniel's participation in the Stargate program, Teal'c's change of heart, the fact that I joined the military--”

Samantha interrupted her, “What? You think you being in the Air Force could have made that big a difference?”

“No,” snapped Sam, “I just said that it made a contribution.”

“And therefore I didn't?” Samantha scowled at her from across the table.

“Ladies,” Jack said, holding up a hand, he looked between the irritated women. “Sams… we’re all in this reality together.”

Sam leaned back in her chair, glaring at her double.

“Wait, if you’re military and this is SG-1,” Kawalsky said, “Does that mean…” he looked to Jack. “You mean that you and your Sam aren't, I mean, you’re not married?”

“No!” cried Sam and Jack in unison.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and caught him looking at her. She flicked her gaze away and looked at the center of the table.

“Are you engaged or dating or something?” Kawalsky pressed.

“Colonel O'Neill is Major Carter’s commanding officer,” broke in Hammond.

“Aw, man,” Kawalsky said. He rubbed the back of his neck. Sam saw him give Samantha a look. “So are you guys married to other people, or what? Is that why there isn't another Charlie here?”

“Jack and his wife had a son named Charlie,” said Daniel.

Sam groaned inwardly. That as probably the worst thing Daniel could have said in the middle of an already tense conversation.

Lottie perked up, her drawing forgotten. “You mean I’m a boy in this world? Ew!”

Kawalsky cocked his head to the side. “So, who’d you marry then, Jack?”

Jack was sitting stiffly in his chair. Sam could tell that all of his willpower was concentrated on being civil. “Sara,” he said, his voice as tense as his body language.

“Your high school girlfriend?” Samantha said. She seemed genuinely perplexed. “But you haven’t seen her for years.”

“Yeah, well, I was married to her,” Jack ground out.

“They’re divorced now,” Daniel added.

Sam kicked him under the table.

“Not surprising,” Samantha said. “I never liked her much anyway.”

“I didn't realize that I needed your approval,” Jack said testily.

“Well, I am your--” Samantha began heatedly, but she broke off and slumped back in her chair. “You’re right. You don’t need my approval.”

“Mom?” Lottie asked.

“It’s okay,” Samantha said, pulling her daughter close. She angled her body away from Jack.

Hammond leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “What we need to know,” he said to Samantha, “Is where you intend to go from here.”

“Our Beta site was instructed to bury their Stargate the moment the last man stepped through.” She raked her fingers through her long hair. “And our own world is under Goa’uld control, so we can’t go back.”

“What she means,” said Kawalsky, “Is that we want to stay.”

“That is, if we’re wanted,” Samantha added.

Silence descended on the table.

Samantha turned to Jack, unshed tears shining in her eyes. “Look,” she said, “We just left everyone we know. Everyone we ever cared about. If you’re not going to give us a chance, I don’t know any of you.”

“Well, exactly,” Jack said. “You don’t know any of us. And we don’t know you.” He nodded to Sam. “For all we know, you could be her evil twin. But then…we’d be dealing with clichés and you know how I feel about those.” He stopped, and glanced at Sam. “No, actually, you know how I feel about those.”

“I want to stay here,” Lottie said. She looked at Hammond. “Please, Grandpa George, don’t make us go back.”

Hammond closed his eyes and drew in a breath. “Okay, I’ll speak with my superiors and make a determination. For now, you'll be assigned temporary accommodation.”

“Thank you,” Lottie said in a small voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time I decided to tell the whole chapter through Sam's point of view. I wanted to explore her reaction to the arrival of Kawalsky, Samantha and Lottie. Once again, although I included dialogue from the episode, I adapted it to better fit the flow of this story. In researching for this episode I was reminded that the episode with Merrin takes place immediately before this one. I really liked the way I could draw some continuity into this chapter and I hope that you enjoyed it as well.
> 
> Rewrite Notes: The beginning of this chapter is greatly expanded with minor tweaks throughout.


	5. Inadequate

After the briefing Kawalsky asked if Jack would show him to the gym and her not-husband had jumped at the opportunity to escape the awkward tension in the briefing room. Clearly Jack was the same man in both realities.

The Jaffa had left silently and Samantha was grateful that he hadn’t spoken much. She could feel Lottie relax next to her as soon as he was out of the room. Dr. Jackson, Daniel, volunteered to walk them to the quarters they had been assigned and Sam tagged along.

Daniel struck up a conversation with Lottie, asking her about school. After Lottie shyly confessed that she enjoyed her social studies class, Daniel started regaling her with silly historical trivia. Lottie’s uncertain smiles had transformed into genuine grins and outright laughter by the time they stepped off of the elevator on level 25.

Samantha rubbed her forearm. She knew she had a nasty bruise forming under her bandage. She caught Sam watching her and crossed her arms and straightened her back.

Lottie had been groggy and confused when she’d first woken in the infirmary. The sedative that Dr. Fraiser had given her hadn’t been strong enough to keep her asleep for long. Samantha had acquiesced to staying in her bed only long enough for Dr. Fraiser to remove the IV and clean and bandage the sight of the cannula. By the time Lottie had started to stir, Samantha was already perched on the bed beside her.

She’d tried to explain things to Lottie has best she could and the girl seemed to have understood. At least, she hadn’t called the other Jack “Dad” and she hadn’t started crying again when she saw him. Of course, she’d already been crying the next time she saw him. It made her deeply uneasy to know that the man who murdered her husband was wandering around the SGA with impunity. Rationally she knew that they were not the same man, but all the same...

She glanced at her other self out of the corner of her eye as they followed Daniel and Lottie down the corridor. Sam walked beside her as if walking next to herself wasn’t an unnerving experience. She had a confident stride, shoulders back, arms swinging freely at her side. She was a woman who’d faced down her enemies and triumphed. Samantha, by contrast, was a defeated woman, barely holding herself together for the sake of her daughter.

The woman beside her was an agonizing reminder that Samantha hadn’t been good enough, hadn’t been clever enough, to stop her world from falling apart.

She had Jack had always joked that it was a good thing that her scholarship had come along and “saved” her from the Air Force. She’d pointed her accomplishments in the field of astrophysics and as a civilian consultant to the Stargate Project as proof that deciding against the Academy had been the best possible choice. After all, how could she have done what she did if she had been just another soldier?

But here was Sam. And she seemed to have accomplished everything that Samantha had--and, critically, more. She’d stopped the Goa’uld.

Guilt shot through Samantha’s heart.

“And here we are,” Daniel declared as they stopped outside of what Samantha recognized as the VIP quarters.

The airman posted outside of the door opened it and Daniel led the way inside.

Lottie looked around the room, inspecting it. The suite was exactly like the rooms at the SGA--even down to the potted ficus by the door.

“Nice tree,” Lottie said

“Brings a little bit of the outside, inside,” Daniel said.

“What’s in there?” she asked, pointing at the closed bathroom door.

“Bathroom,” Daniel said.

Lottie edged closer to Samantha, clearly nervous about what lay behind the closed door.

“Want me to come check it out with you?” Daniel offered.

Lottie offered him a relieved smile and followed close behind him into the bathroom. Although she had known Dr. Daniel Jackson for less than thirty minutes, Samantha decided that she liked him. He’d realized that Lottie was nervous and a little frightened and he was doing what he could to reassure her. She wondered if the Dr. Jackson in her reality had been like this. She’d only known him for a few hours before he’d been killed by Apophis’ Jaffa. Once or twice Jack had mentioned something about Dr. Jackson from his first mission through the Stargate but he’d never gone into detail.

Samantha crossed the room and sat down at the edge of the bed. Sam lingered in the doorway, for the first time looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Listen,” she said. “I didn’t mean to offend you back there.”

Samantha turned to face her. “Look, Major I know I’m dealing with the inadequacy issues here. Just forget about it.”

“What?” Sam’s forehead wrinkled.

Samantha glanced at the bathroom. She could hear Daniel dramatically sliding the shower curtain back so that Lottie could see there was nothing there. “We knew the Goa’uld were coming for six months, but I couldn’t think of a way to stop them. You did.”

Before Sam could respond, Lottie and Daniel reentered the room.

“There’s nothing in the bathroom, Mom,” Lottie announced.

“That’s good, honey,” Samantha said.

“Did you guys eat lunch yet?” Daniel asked.

Samantha supposed that the few swallows of soup she’d had counted, so she nodded. Lottie, however, shook her head.

“Hungry?”

Lottie nodded.

“I can show you to the finest commissary the Air Force has to offer,” Daniel said.

Samantha hesitated. She knew that if she asked, someone would fetch a tray of food and bring it to their quarters. She didn’t know if she could stand the scrutiny she was sure to face in the commissary, but she also knew that it might do Lottie some good to walk around the base and see for herself that it was safe and secure. And, she realized with a painful twist in her gut, Lottie need to get to know and trust Sam. In a few years, she might be all Lottie had in this world.

Sam picked up on her uncertainty and said, “Daniel and I can take Lottie if you’re not hungry.”

With what she hoped was a confident expression Samantha said, “That sounds like a good plan. Do you want to go with them?”

Lottie shifted from one foot to the other and tugged on the hem of her t-shirt. She’d only had a few bites of jell-o several hours ago and Samantha knew she was probably starving.

“You’ll be fine, Charlotte,” Samantha said with as much reassurance as she could manage. “We’re safe here.”

Lottie pulled the battered bunny out of her pocket and handed it to her mother. Samantha propped it up on the pillow and reached over and gave Lottie’s hand a squeeze.

“Okay,” Lottie said. “Let’s go.”

“Great,” Daniel said. He threw an arm around Lottie’s shoulder as they walked toward the door.

Sam stepped away from the door frame and said, “We’ll send someone with some food for your,” she paused, “for your mom, okay?”

“Okay,” Samantha heard Lottie say as they stepped out of the room “She really likes jell-o.”

After the door swung shut, Samantha’s eyes slid closed and hot tears raced down her cheeks. She reached into the breast pocket of her BDUs and withdrew the picture Kawalsky had given her in the infirmary while she had been waiting for Lottie to wake up.

It was a picture of her family.

In the photo, Jack had his arms wrapped around her while she was bent almost double in laughter. A younger Lottie was standing on a chair beside her father, arms looped around his neck looking at someone off camera, an ear-splitting smile plastered across her face. It had been taken at their wedding.

When Lottie was four Jack had informed Samantha that it was about time he’d made an honest woman of her. They’d been engaged too long. Even though their wedding had been small and simple, it had been the happiest day of her life. Lottie had been their only attendant and the four year old had stolen the show when walked down the aisle without sprinkling a single rose petal only to dump the entire contents of her basket onto her father’s shoes.

Samantha drank in the sight of her husband’s joyful face in the picture. This was the image she wanted to hold fast in her memory. She didn’t want her precious memories of her husband to be replaced with the memory of the other him in this reality.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, her voice broken. She bent forward, covering her face with her hands and unleashed the sobs she’d stifled for the last twenty four hours.

Her husband was dead. She was dying. Although she hadn’t blacked out since the incident on the plane, she knew that eventually she would succumb to Cascade Failure. Lottie would be left orphaned in a reality that was not her own.

Samantha curled up on her side, balling her hands into fists and wept.

Before they’d learned of the Goa’uld’s intended invasion, they’d discussed having another child. The baby brother Lottie had always asked for. When they’d learned that the invasion was coming, they’d shelved that plan. It became their “someday.” Someday Jack would retire and they’d go live in Minnesota. Some place near the Cities, perhaps. They’d spend their summers at the cabin and the rest of the year in the home they’d build themselves so that their children could go to school. She would get a job teaching at the University of Minnesota when the baby was older. Jack used to tease her that she’d have to be patient about getting a teaching job because he was pretty sure he’d heard Lottie ask for a baby sister, too.

In the blink of an eye, that someday was gone. The safe, rosy future they’d dreamed up for themselves was shattered. There wouldn’t be a baby brother (or sister). There’d be no dream house or summers at the cabin. No teaching job. All of that was gone.

Her heartbreak was a physical pain in her chest. It sliced deeper with each beat of her heart. She gasped around her tears and pressed a clenched fist into her mouth. She knew she had to pull herself back together. She had to wrestle her emotions back into control. Lottie could decide that didn’t want to go to the commissary after all and could return at any time. It would devastate her daughter to find her mother sobbing uncontrollably.

Forcing herself to breathe slowly, Samantha rolled onto her stomach. She raked her fingers through her hair and wiped her face with the sleeve of her BDUs. She propped the photo up against Lottie’s bunny and focused on Jack’s face.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when there was a knock at the door. Long enough, she knew, for her to have locked down her grief and distress.

She couldn’t hear Lottie’s voice as the door opened and she assumed that it must be someone with the tray of food Sam had promised to send.

“Just put it on the table and close the door on your way out,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” said Jack. “Put what on the table?”

Samantha bolted upright, cheeks burning. “Jack. I’m sorry, come in.” Her heart raced and she felt embarrassed by how glad she was to see him.

He stepped into the room shutting the door behind him.

“Your, um,” she caught herself before she called Janet by her first name, “Dr. Fraiser keeps insisting that I eat something.”

“Ah,” Jack said with a nod. “Well, she’s your Doc Fraiser now, too.” He offered her a smile. “You’re in. The powers that be said yes.”

Lottie was going to be safe. Everything else had,and was, going to hell, but Lottie was going to be safe. “That’s good.”

“Yeah, I can see that you’re overjoyed,” Jack said dryly.

His tone, so familiar, crushed her. Earlier, in the infirmary, she’d been able to ignore him out of concern for Lottie and then in the briefing room there had been other people around and she’d been able to avoid facing him. But now he’d come to her, and he was standing mere feet away acting just like himself. It was too much.

Her control slipped and she started to cry again. “I just never expected this. It’s so,” she bowed her head and clutched her knees, “So hard.”

Jack rubbed his face and walked around the bed. “Uh, look,” he said, plainly uncertain how to respond. “I can’t even begin to know what you’ve been through. I know, uh...I know you’ve lost a lot.”

Her Jack wouldn’t have been uncertain. He might not have known what to say, but he would have scrambled over the bed and pulled her into his embrace. He would have held her and shared her grief. This Jack didn’t know what to do. He didn’t even have an inkling.

“I lost you,” Samantha said, her voice quavering. “I watched you die, Jack. Less than a day ago, trying to defend the mountain. And here you are alive and safe in this perfect world, and you don’t even know me.”

“Well I...I sort of know you.” He sat down beside her on the bed.

“You know her,” Samantha scoffed through her tears. She looked at exuberant faces in the photo on the nightstand.  
“You don’t even see her that way, do you?”

She felt him squirm beside her.

“Well, we’re not exactly...”

“Married,” she finished for him.

“Yeah,” Jack said.

“This makes you uncomfortable,” she noted, brushing a tear from her cheek. The less her was like her Jack, the better, she told herself.

“No, no,” he said quickly. “Not at all. I just...I get confused.”

It was such a Jack thing to say that Samantha almost lost the tenuous control she’d managed.

Before either could speak again, there was a knock at a door and an airman bustled into the room with a tray of food.

“Ma’am? Oh, sorry, Colonel, I didn’t realize…”

“Just,” Jack rubbed his hands together. “Put it on the table, airman.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Close the door on your way out,” he added.

The airman deposited the tray on the table and hastily retreated. Samantha looked at Jack and once more felt the cutting pain in her chest. Seizing the opportunity for distraction and got up and inspected the tray.

Lasagna, garlic bread, and steamed vegetables. It was one of her favorite meals. It was in fact, the very meal she had been preparing when they’d gotten the call that the Goa’uld ships had been spotted entering the solar system.

Without knowing why, she told Jack as much. “We just left everything,” she said. “You blew out the candles and I turned off the oven. We just left.They didn't hit Colorado Springs from orbit like most of the big cities, so the table must still be set.”

“Cold by now,” Jack said.

“Yeah,” she agreed, covering the food. Her appetite gone.

Jack stood. “Listen, I should probably be…”

“Stay,” she said, her voice breaking.

His eyes softened. “Sam,” he said.

The way he said her name was the was _he_ said her name.

“Please,” she begged.

“Look,” he said. “You’re dealing with a loss right now that I can’t even begin to...what I mean is, maybe I’m not the right person to help you.”

“Yes, you are,” she insisted, the tears she’d managed to hold in check flowing freely. “You’re the only one who can. I know you well enough to know that you don’t have a clue what to day.” She swallowed thickly. “You don’t have to say anything.”

He stepped towards her and opened his arms. “Come here,” he said gruffly.

“Oh, I miss him,” she breathed as she slipped her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder.

He reached up and cradled her head, just like _he_ would and she cried all the harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time it was just one scene and one POV. I hope that I was able to convey the depth of Samantha's loss adequately in this chapter. I left the dialogue between Samantha and Jack untouched because I really love the scene and I think it's very powerful in the episode. I hope no one minded that it was brought word-for-word into this story.
> 
> I know it might seem like a stretch for Lottie to go from hysterical in the infirmary to laughing with Daniel, but I think that she would probably being trying just as hard as Samantha to put on a brave face. I plan in the next update to have part of the chapter in her POV.
> 
> Please let me know what you think of the story so far!
> 
> Rewrite Notes: I left this chapter largely untouched. I only added a few clarifying sentences at the beginning.


	6. Uncanny Resemblences

Sam was just like her mom.

It was really weird.

Lottie openly stared at her while she ate her grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. She wished she hadn’t forgotten her glasses at Lindsey’s house. She was glad that she was finally sitting close enough to Sam that she could really study her. At first she didn’t think they looked much alike, but now that she’d had a chance to scrutinize Sam, she could tell that they were identical. Sam’s short hair made her face seem more angular but if Lottie pictured her with long hair like her mom, the resemblance was plain. They had the same eyes, the same nose, the same mouth. Even the way they talked was the same.

She took another bite of her sandwich and tilted her head to the side.

Sam was doing a good job of ignoring the staring, like her mom would have done. She and Daniel were talking about some movie called Star Wars that sounded an awful like that movie about Luke Starkiller she watched once with Cassie. They were talking about the scientific accuracy of the movie. It was the sort of conversation that Lottie was familiar with. Her mom always complained about science and stuff in movies. Usually she and Dad would gang up on her and throw pillows at her until she stopped talking.

Lottie dropped her gaze to her plate.

Dad.

She’d forgotten all about him.

She could hardly swallow the dry bite in her mouth. She felt sick to her stomach and she wished she hadn’t eaten anything.

When they’d brought Dad into the control room she’d been so relieved. She remembered the way hope zipped in her heart and she’d cried out to him. The panic on his face was etched into her memory. She’d never seen him look so scared. For a second she’d been frightened but then she’d realized that he was just acting. Just trying to trick the terrifying man.

Mom had started crying and Lottie wanted to tell her that Dad wasn’t really scared. It was all an act. It was going to be okay.

Dad had been so flippant, so calm and cool. Mom had always said that she got her sassy streak from her dad.

And then they killed him. A bright shot from that strange weapon and he toppled over.

Dead.

Everything had fallen apart. Mom was scared. Dad was dead. She didn’t know how they were going to escape. That man was going to kill her mom and then he was going to kill her, too. She was going to die, just like her dad.

“Lottie?”

Lottie squeaked and jumped out of her chair, bumping the table and spilling her milk. Her heart was thundering in her chest and her palms were sweaty. She felt cold liquid fear welling up in her stomach, just like it had when Dad died.  
She spun around wildly, looking for a way to escape.

Sam touched her shoulder. “Lottie, you’re safe.”

“Mom,” Lottie said. She grabbed Sam and threw herself into her arms. “I want to go home.”

A familiar, yet unknown, hand reached up to stroke her hair. “You’re going to be okay, Lottie.”

“Maybe we should find some place quiet?” Daniel murmured.

“Yeah, I think that would be a good idea,” Sam responded in a low voice.

Lottie wound the loose fabric of the back of Sam’s BDU jacket around her fists, pressing her face into Sam’s chest. “Please, take me home?”

“Come on, come with us,” Sam said.

She didn’t try to disentangle Lottie, and for that the eight year old was grateful. Sam manouvered them through the commissary and out the door into the hallway beyond. Lottie wasn’t crying, she didn’t think she had any tears left to cry.

Daniel ushered them into an empty office and closed the door after them. Sam gently lowered Lottie into a chair and stepped back. Lottie drew her legs up to her chest and pressed her face into her knees. She pressed so hard she saw stars behind her eyelids. Her mind was flashing through the memories of the night before over and over and over again. It was like being forced to watch a horror film on a loop.

“Take deep breaths,” Sam said, crouching in front of the chair. “Concentrate just on your breathing.”

Lottie sucked in a deep breath which turned into a dry sob.

“Should I get Janet?” Daniel asked.

Sam must have shaken her head. Then she said, “Come on, breath for me. Nice and slow.”

Sam’s hand rubbed her back. Lottie focused on that, and on Sam’s voice--her mother’s voice. Little by little she pushed the memories to the back of her mind and forced her breathing to even out.

At last she lifted her head but she did not unfold her tightly curled body.

“There you are,” Sam said. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Lottie lied.

A smile quirked the corner of Sam’s mouth. “Glad to hear it.”

“Do you want some water? You probably want some water. I’ll go find some water.” Daniel darted out of the room.

Sam stood and snagged another chair and rolled it over. She sat down and scooted close enough that her knees bumped the seat of Lottie’s chair.

“When I was twelve my mom died,” Sam said without preamble. “She was in a car accident.”

Lottie looked fixedly at Sam. She’d known that her Grandma Carter had died when her mom was a kid, but mom had never talked about it.

“It felt like the world ended.”

“It did,” Lottie said. “I saw it. All of the people were trying to leave the city. They were going crazy on the roads. Mom had to drive down the grass in the middle of the highway. And then everything in here was all alarms and flashing lights and then, and then they came…”

“Oh, Lottie,” Sam said. She reached over and put her hands over Lottie’s. “You’re right. Your world was ending.”

Her gentle compassion was the tipping point. Lottie drew in a shuddering breath and then started to cry.

When Daniel returned a few minutes later with a glass of water, Lottie was half gathered into Sam’s arms, sobbing into her neck. He set the glass down silently and retreated again, this time to look for tissues. By the time he’d returned a second time, Lottie had calmed down enough to sit back in the chair without holding Sam in a death grip.

Sam accepted the tissues with a grateful smile and passed the box to Lottie.

“Thank you,” Lottie said. Her face felt hot and puffy, her throat scratchy. She blew her nose several times and mopped her face with another handful of tissues.

“You bet,” Sam said.

It was something her dad would have said when he was uncomfortable, and although the echo of her father made her chin quiver dangerously, Lottie managed to hold back her tears. She offered Sam a tremulous smile.

“Ready to go finish eating?” Daniel asked. He was leaning against the wall by the door, his hands shoved into the pockets of his BDUs.

Lottie shook her head. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Do you want to go back to your mom?” Sam asked.

Lottie shook her head. Going back to Mom right then meant she’d be surrendering what little control she’d managed to pull together. Mom would see right through her and then it would be over. All of the things she’d just stuffed deep down in her heart to deal with later would spew right back out again.

“Want to see my lab?” Sam asked.

Lottie unfolded herself and stood up, nodding. “Do you do telemetry?”

Sam chuckled. “Not really.”

“Neither does Mom,” Lottie said. She paused, suddenly realizing something. “She lied to my whole class on career day.”

Daniel held the door open. “So she’s a good liar then?”

“The best,” Lottie said with reverent awe. Mrs. Croft was able to ferret out any liar and Mom had been able to breeze in and lie her pants off about deep space telemetry. She’d been so good that Mrs. Croft had even invited her back to talk for the science fair.

Lottie missed the look Daniel shot Sam over her head and the smirk on Sam’s face as she followed Lottie into the corridor.

Sam’s lab was nothing short of fascinating. Despite being located in a drab, box-like room with concrete walls, floors and ceiling, it was filled with all sorts of interesting and intriguing gadgets and pieces of technology. The far wall was filled with a bank of computers, blinking like Christmas tree lights. Three different computer monitors were lit up and running programs Lottie couldn’t recognize. There were shelves with boxes with wires tumbling over the sides and antenna sticking out and at least five different microscopes.

“Cool,” Lottie said. She’d always known that her mom liked technology (the three computers in the study attested to that), but she’d never expected to see so much interesting looking technology all jumbled together in one place. She hopped onto a stool next to the stainless steel work table. “What are you inventing?”

“Stuff,” Sam said with a vague shrug. She sat down on the stool next to Lottie.

“Can I help?”

“Know anything about reactors?”

“Like a nuclear reactor?” Lottie asked.

Sam leaned forward, “Yeah.”

“Nope. Except that one melted down in Chernobyl a long time ago. Mom showed me pictures once. Dad said it was morbid.”

Lottie could tell that Sam was trying not to smile. She swung her feet on the stool, and looked at the shelves, trying to discern the organization scheme. The boxes were all marked, but she couldn’t decipher the shorthand labels.

“Do you build robots?” She asked.

Daniel leaned forward and propped up an elbow on the table as he leaned closer. “She’s a great robot builder.”

“Can we make a robot?” Lottie gave Sam her best puppy-dog eyes. Mom said she was immune to puppy-dog eyes but Sam seemed to have no such immunity. She looked indecisive for less than a second before grinning and nodding.

“Excellent!” Lottie said. “I read all about robots over the summer. Do you have everything we need?”

“I think so,” Sam said, slipping off her stool and crossing the room to examine the shelves full of boxes.

“What sort of robot are we talking about?” Daniel asked.

“Let’s make one that can spy on people,” Lottie said. “It needs to be really sneaky.” She was already envisioning ways she and her friends could put the robot to good use when they had sleepovers.

“Spy on people? What sort of trouble do you get up to?”

Lottie gave Daniel her most innocent look. “Me? I never get in trouble.”

“You,” Daniel said, pointing a finger at her, “Are so your father’s daughter.”

His comment reminded her of her dad, but the wallop of pain she’d been expected didn’t come. In fact, she was rather proud that a stranger could tell that she was a genuine O’Neill. It was reassuring to have Daniel find a commonality between herself and her dad.

Sam unloaded an armful of wires, servos and computer chips onto the worktable. “If we use a ball bearing wheel, the robot will have 360 degrees of movement.”

“So it can go basically anywhere,” Lottie said.

“On a flat surface, yes.”

“Oh, that’s okay. We only have one story in our house.”

Sam raised her eyebrow.

“I’m going to get that tray of food sent to Dr. Carter,” Daniel said. “I’ll leave you ladies to get started on your robot.”  
Lottie spied a plastic box in the pile of items Sam had brought over. “We can use this as the casing for the body.”

“If we drill some holes into the bottom it will be easy enough to attach the wheels. I think I have a mini infrared camera somewhere. We can put that on the lid.”

“Won’t I need to have a monitor to be able to see whatever images it sends back?”

“Do you have a computer at home?”

Lottie nodded.

“I can write some software that will display the images and I have a receiver, too. I’ll show you how to hook it up to a computer.”

“If it’s infrared I’ll be able to see in the dark, right?”

“Yep.”

“That’s so neat.”

“Um, well, I’ll just be going now,” Daniel said, but Lottie and Sam were already too engrossed in their robot building to hear what he had said. He shook his head and left the lab.

A several hours later the robot was taking shape on the work surface. Lottie had been disappointed when Sam wouldn’t let her use the drill or the soldering iron but had been mollified when she got to hook the camera up to the servo they’d placed inside the case. The infrared camera now boasted a 270 degree field of view.

“Looks like you guys are getting along like a house on fire.”

Lottie’s heart leaped at the sound of her father’s voice. Her head jerked up and she almost dropped the wires she was holding.

Fiercely she told herself that it wasn’t her dad standing in the doorway. It was just someone who looked and acted and sounded exactly like him. He was as similar to her dad as Sam was to her mom. Which was to say, enough the same that it hurt to look at him, but different enough that know that she knew better, she wasn’t going to call him “Dad.”

“Watcha working on?” he asked.

“A robot, sir,” Sam said. She picked up the robot and handed it to him.

Dad, or rather, Jack, Lottie told herself, turned it over in his hands. “What is it for?”

“Spying,” Sam said.

“Spying?”

“Her idea.”  
“For sleepovers, and stuff,” Lottie mumbled. She felt shy. She put the wires down and crossed her arms tightly and looked at the circle patch on Jack’s upper sleeve.

“All of Carter’s brains and all of my disregard for the rules, I like it,” Jack said.

“What are you doing here, sir?” Sam asked.

“I’ve come to get your mini-me. It’s pumpkin time for all kiddos.”

“Pumpkin time, sir?”

“He means it’s bedtime,” Lottie said. It felt strange to explain something so obvious to Sam. Sam ought to know exactly what the Colonel meant. She slid off of the stool.

“We can finish this tomorrow,” Sam said.

“Okay, thank you,” Lottie said. She felt like she should hug Sam. If she’d been doing something like this with her mom she would have hugged her goodnight without hesitation. She didn’t know how Sam might feel about a hug, though. And she’d clung to her an awful lot earlier.

Sam seemed to sense her uncertainty. She reached over and put a hand on Lottie’s shoulder. “You’re welcome. This was fun.”

Deciding to throw caution (and potential embarrassment) to the wind, Lottie gave Sam a tight hug. Sam sat stiffly on her stool for a moment before wrapping her arms around Lottie and drawing her close. “Goodnight, sweetheart,” Sam whispered before pressing a kiss onto the top of Lottie’s head.

“Ready, kid?” Jack asked as Lottie stepped out of Sam’s embrace. He gestured to the door.

“I can come with, too, sir,” Sam said. “I want to see how she, um, Samantha, is doing.”

“She’s fine,” Jack said. “I think she’d rather be alone now. Well, except for Lottie. Just stop in tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Sam said. Lottie noticed that she sounded disappointed. “All right. Goodnight, sir.”

“Sweet dreams, Carter,” Jack said.

Lottie was grateful that they didn’t have to walk by the closet she and Mom and Charlie had hidden in on the way to the elevator. She was also glad that Jack didn’t ask her about school or what book she was reading, the awkward sorts of conversation topics most adults fell back on with kids. Instead he started quizzing her on dog breeds and put on such an exaggerated look of horror when he found out she was allergic to dogs that she couldn’t help but laugh.  
“It’s a rule that every kid has to have a dog,” he said as they stepped onto the elevator.

“Not for me,” Lottie said. “Dogs give me hives.”

He put a hand over his heart. “Right here. It hurts me right here.”

“We have a cat. His name is Schrodinge .” Lottie giggled. “He’s always naughty and scratching stuff up. He’s really cute, you’d like him tons”

“Are you sure you’re an O’Neill?” Jack asked, leaning over and pretending to scrutinize her face.

“One hundred percent. It’s in my blood,” Lottie said.

“You’ve certainly got my dad’s nose,” Jack said. 

She knew he wasn't entirely serious. Everyone said she looked just like her mom. Mom said that it was just the way genetics worked.

“And Grandpa's eyes and Mom’s smile and on and on and on…”.

“So you get this a lot?”

“All of the time.”

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped out. “Would you be interested in going fishing, or getting ice cream tomorrow? I can spring you out of this joint. I’ve done it before, you know.” Jack waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Could be go get Blizzards at Dairy Queen?” Lottie asked.

“Sure, you bet. Whatever you want.”

She couldn’t hide her smile or the bounce of excitement in her step. “I like Oreo Blizzards,” she said.

“Right, 0800 sharp, or whenever Dairy Queen is open, I’ll bust you out and we’ll go get ourselves some ice cream.”

They stopped outside of her door and the airman slid his card through the lock to open it.

“Can Mom come, too? She loves ice cream.”

“Sure,” Jack said. “And if we rustle up a wig, Sam can be our alibi.”

“Where would we get a wig?”

“I dunno. I bet Daniel’s got one around some place.”

“Really?” Lottie covered her mouth to smother her laughter as Jack opened the door and led her into the room.

“He’s got some weird stuff in his lab. It would not surprise me if he had a wig in there.”

“A wig in where?” Samantha asked.

“We’re going to go get Blizzards tomorrow,” Lottie said, hardly able to contain her excitement. “Can we bring Cassie, too?”

“Lottie, I hardly think General Hammond is ready for us to leave the base,” Samantha said.

“Mo-om, he’s going to sneak us out,” she pointed to Jack.

Jack winked at her and Lottie missed the pained expression on her mother’s face.

“I’ll let you two get your beauty sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,” Jack said.

Samantha got up from the bed and handed Lottie a pair of pajamas. “Dr. Fraiser brought some more clothes for you. These should fit, okay. She said they were too small for Cassie.”

“Can we please go get ice cream tomorrow?” Lottie begged. “Or can Cassie come here to see me?”

“Sweetheart, this Cassie doesn’t know who you are,” Samantha said.

“Mom, she might not recognize me, but she’ll know me. She’s just like my big sister. She’ll just be able to sense it.”

Samantha reached for her daughter and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “It doesn't work that way, Charlotte. You’ll have to start all over with your friendship. And I’m not saying that you can’t or you shouldn’t do that, but you have to understand that you won’t be able to just pick up where you left off.”

Lottie stepped back from her mother. “I was her best friend from the moment she moved her from Canada. She was so scared and sad at school. Her mom and dad had just died and she didn't really know Aunt Janet. And, Mom, I need her now. I just--” she felt a sob bubble to the surface. “I really need her. She’ll know that. She’ll be there for me because it’s what friends do.”

Her mother’s face crumpled and she rubbed her hand over her eyes. Lottie knew that something she said had hurt her mother, but she didn’t know what. She wanted to fix it, to say something to take away the devastated expression painted on her mom’s features, but she felt helpless. Lottie pressed her face into the pajamas and darted into the bathroom.

She closed the door and sank down to the floor, crying. Through the door she heard her mother crying which only made everything overwhelmingly worse. She held her breath to swallow her tears but couldn't. Earlier she thought she’d cried out all of her tears, but now she discovered a deep untapped well of sorrow in the pit of her soul and fresh tears and sobs spilled out from within it.

She wanted nothing more than for her mother to knock on the door and let herself into the bathroom. She wanted her mom to pull her into a hug and promise that everything would be alright. Mom didn't come.

Lottie cried alone until she was too tired to cry any more. She peeled her clothes off, straining her ears to hear her mother. There was only silence on the other side of the bathroom door. The pajamas fit well enough (the pant legs were about three inches too short, but otherwise it fit). There was a toothbrush in plastic packaging on the counter so she brushed her teeth.

When she slipped out of the bathroom she could see her mom in bed. Mom was curled up in a tight ball. She never slept like that. Lottie knew she was still upset. It hurt her like a knife wrenched in her heart. She wished she knew what she’d done so she could make it better.

Flicking off of the bathroom light, she padded across the room and climbed into bed.

She held her breath, wishing her mom would so something. Say something.

Then she felt her mother scoot across the bed and slip her arms around her.

“I love you,” Samantha whispered.

“I love you, too, Mommy,” Lottie said. She rolled over so she could pull herself farther into her mother’s arms.

She fell asleep safe in her mother’s embrace.

She was jolted awake three hours later when her mother began convulsing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait for this chapter! Life has been very busy lately, but I haven't forgotten about this story. I know it's a risky move to put a whole chapter in a OFC's POV, but I wanted to explore what Lottie is thinking and feeling about this whole situation. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> Rewrite notes: Another chapter that I left mostly untouched except for a few clarifying edits.


	7. Entropic Cascade Failure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't already, please go back and reread the first six chapters. I've rewritten them and made substantial changes--not the least of which is the deletion of an entire subplot and an alteration of Lottie's age. Lottie is now 8--which fits her characterization much better.

The ringing phone woke Sam from a sound sleep. She sat up in bed and threw back the covers before her brain had even registered what she was doing. She shook her head and rubbed her face with one hand while reaching for the phone with the other. Even as she lifted the receiver to her ear her mind was already running through a list of possible emergencies.

“This is Major Carter,” she said.

“Sam, it’s Janet. I need you to come down to the infirmary.”

Sam stood up, yanking down her pajama bottoms with one hand. “What happened?”

“It’s Dr. Carter, she’s...you should get down here as quickly as possible.”

“I’m on my way,” Sam said and hung up the phone. She grabbed her BDUs from the chair and pulled them on as quickly as possible. She opted to forgo the jacket and instead tugged a black t-shirt over her head. She stuffed her feet into her boots, tucked her ID card into her pocket and fluffed her hair with her fingers. In less than two minutes she was out the door and striding toward the elevator.

She hadn’t heard the klaxon that indicated an unscheduled off-world gate activation, nor were there any announcements about base lock-down or medical emergencies. It would seem that the emergency pertained solely to her alternate self. The other Samantha had fainted at Peterson, perhaps she had collapsed again?

Sam slipped through the elevator doors before they had finished opening and jogged down the corridor to the infirmary entrance.

Samantha was reclined in a bed closest to the door, ashen faced. Thick blankets were pulled up to her chest and her left hand, wedding band glinting in the florescent lights, rested on top of the covers. Janet was leaned close, checking her pupillary response. The rest of SG-1 and Kawalsky stood clustered at the foot of the bed. Jack was holding Lottie, the girl’s limbs entwined around his upper body.

“What is it?” Sam asked, stepping into the middle of the group. “What’s happening?”

“Dr. Carter’s gone into some sort of convulsive shock. I don’t know the cause and I don’t know how to stop it,” Janet said. She dropped the pen light into her pocket.

Samantha grimaced and shifted restlessly in the bed, her breathing suddenly labored. She pressed her hand against her stomach as if holding back nausea.

“Easy,” Janet said, laying a hand on her arm.

“Mommy?” Lottie said, reaching toward her.

Samantha jerked into a sitting position, fingers clutching the blankets. Sam watched with wide eyes as her twin seemed to be pulled in different directions. It was like looking at a double exposed image--moving in real time. Almost as suddenly as it had started, it stopped and Samantha collapsed back against the pillow, gasping for breath.

“Not medical. Temporal,” Samantha said, panting. She shivered as a chill washed over her.

With stunning clarity, Sam knew exactly what was happening. She pushed past Jack and Lottie and rounded the side of the bed and grabbed Samantha’s hand. It was icy cold.

“Entropic cascade failure,” Samantha said, squeezing her hand.

Heart sinking, Sam asked, “On the cellular level?”

Samantha nodded. She looked at her daughter, eyes haunted, before looking back at Sam, pleading. “I thought it would take years, not days.” Her head bowed in defeat.

Sam covered their joined hands with her other hand. “So, it is a side effect of travel through the Quantum Mirror?” She’d theorized as such, but General Hammond had forbidden experimentation on or travel through the Quantum Mirror after it had been recovered from P3R-233.

“Then why don’t we have it,” Kawalsky asked, using his thumb to point between himself and Lottie.

“I’m guess Dr. Carter has it because I’m here,” Sam said. Beside her, Samantha nodded. “The increased entropy generated by both of us existing in the same reality might,” she paused, “theoretically be causing a theoretical distortion.”

“It’s not theoretical anymore,” said Samantha bitterly.

“Okay,” said Fraiser, taking the new information in stride. “So, how do I treat this?”

“You can’t,” said Samantha.

Sam said, “The more time passes, the worse it should get.”

“So, I’m going to die here,” Samantha finished.

“You’re not going to die,” said Jack.

“Actually, sir,” began Sam.

“Carter,” Jack interrupted. He gave a terrified Lottie a pointed look.  
Sam snapped her mouth shut. She’d forgotten that he girl was in the room, watching and listening to everything with undisguised horror. “I, uh, take that back. She’s going to, um, be fine.” From the face Jack made she could tell that her lie was utterly transparent.

“Come here, honey,” Samantha said, shifting closer to Sam so that there was space on her right side.

Jack carried Lottie over and set her down next to her mother.

Samantha wrapped her arms around the girl and gathered her against her side. Lottie lay down and curled into Samantha, one arm draped around her mother, her other hand clenched in a fist and tucked under her cheek. Samantha rested her chin on Lottie’s head and rubbed her back.

“Everything will be fine. You’ll see, everything will be just fine.”

“I’m scared, Mom,” said Lottie.

“I know. It’s okay to be scared. But there are a lot of people here to protect you and take care of you.”

“I will,” said Sam. And she knew she would. The only way to save Samantha from ECF would be to send her straight to her death in her original Goa’uld infested reality. They’d save her from temporal forces beyond their control only for her to be killed by physical forces beyond their control. It was a leadened certainty that Dr. Carter was going to die. Lottie would be alone and she would need family. Sam knew, with the same sureness that she knew Dr. Carter’s death was inevitable, that she was going to be Lottie’s family.

“You’ve got me, too, kid,” Jack said. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets and he rocked on his feet, staring at the floor.

“And I’m not going anywhere,” Kawalsky said.

“We’re here for you, too,” Daniel chimed in.

“Indeed,” said Teal’c.

Lottie sniffled.

“See, everything will be fine,” Samantha said softly.

“But you won’t be here, Mama,” Lottie said.

Sam’s heart clenched. She knew that if she’d been offered a cheap copy of her own mother after her death, she would have found the gesture hollow.

“Alright, people,” Janet said. “I’d like Dr. Carter to get some rest.”

Teal’c and Daniel left without further urging. It took a glare from Janet to get Kawalsky out the door and Jack only left after a muttered threat about really big needles. Sam didn’t budge. She knew she would be frightened and anxious if the situation were reversed. She couldn’t bring herself to leave Samantha and Lottie alone.

She snagged a chair and set it beside the bed and settled down in it. Samantha shifted so that she was laying on her back, Lottie still pressed tightly against her side.

“Do you live on the base, Major Carter?” Samantha asked.

Sam shook her head, realizing at once Samantha’s purpose in asking her the question: she wanted to know about the place her daughter would soon call home.

“I have a house about a half hour drive from here. It’s in a quiet neighborhood, there are parks nearby and the school that Cassie went to is a ten minute walk away.”

“Orchard View?” Lottie asked, her head poking up.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“That’s my school, Mom,” Lottie whispered.

“I know,” Samantha returned in a whisper with a smile, “Isn’t that neat?”

“Do you have any pets?” Lottie asked.

“I had a cat--”

“Schrodinger?” Lottie interrupted, her face hopeful. “Is he huge and orange?”

“He was,” Sam confirmed.

“He’s not…” Lottie’s chin quivered dangerously, “He’s not dead, too, is he?”

“Oh! No, no,” Sam reassured quickly. “I, um, gave him to a friend. He’d never had a cat before and I thought he could use a cat.”

“Oh,” said Lottie, dropping her head back down. “I guess that’s okay then.”

Samantha chuckled and tucked Lottie’s hair behind her ear. “Maybe we could convince Major Carter to get a new cat.”

“I could probably be convinced,” Sam said. “You could probably even convince me to let you name it.”

“What about a kitten? Could you get a kitten?”

Sam smiled. “Sure, why not?”

“What about _two_ kittens?”

“That might be fun,” said Sam, relieved to see that Lottie was already less worried and afraid.

“What about _three_ kittens?”

“Okay, Charlotte,” admonished Samantha, “You’ve pressed your luck enough for now.”

Lottie sighed and said, “O-kay, Mom…”

Janet reappeared and pulled the curtain closed around the bed. “Bedtime,” she said. “Dr. Carter, if you feel another episode coming on, push the call button, okay?”

Samantha nodded.

“Major, could I speak to you for a moment in my office?” Janet asked.

Sam got to her feet. She pinched her bottom lip nervously before leaning over to give Lottie a quick peck on the cheek. Feeling a little silly, she hugged Samantha before she straightened up. Samantha offered her a watery smile and a mouthed thank you.

“Dream up some good names for your kittens,” Sam said.

“What about Homer?” Lottie asked, yawning.

“As in the Odyssey?” Sam asked, surprised but pleased.

Samantha rolled her eyes, “No, as in the Simpsons. She is half O’Neill, you know.”

“Ah,” said Sam. “It all makes sense now.”

“Are you guys making fun of me?” Lottie pouted.

“Maybe just a little,” Samantha said, tapping Lottie’s nose.

Lottie wrinkled her nose and grinned.

Sam left the pair, a ghost of a smile on her lips. Following Janet through the infirmary she wondered how quickly she could adopt three kittens.

Janet’s office was in the back of the infirmary and like the woman herself, it was neatly and efficiently laid out. Even Cassandra’s artwork hung in perfectly aligned frames on the cinderblock walls. Janet hung her labcoat on the rack by the door and sank down into her desk chair, tipping her head back and rubbing her eyes. Sam sat down across from her, and stifled a yawn. Despite all of the action, it was still the middle of the night.

“Realistically, how long do you think she has?” Janet asked, still staring up at the ceiling tiles.

Sam leaned forward, resting her elbow on the desk and propping up her chin in her hand. “Weeks? Days?”

“Oh, damn,” said Janet.

“Why?”

Janet sat up. “I did more testing when she came in tonight. Tried to discover what was going on.”

“And?” Sam prompted.

“She’s pregnant.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, I know.” Janet pinched the bridge of her nose. “Could that be making things worse?”

“Not unless I was also pregnant,” Sam said.

Janet froze and then leveled her with a searching look.

Sam threw up her hands. “Not pregnant! So very not pregnant. Especially not with the Colonel’s baby!” Her face burned in embarrassment.

SIghing Janet asked, “So, this is just the normal progress of the..what did you call it? Entropic Cascade Failure?”

“So it would seem,” said Sam.

“What will happen to the baby?”

“I...I don’t know,” Sam admitted reluctantly. “The ECF will eventually become so severe that it will shred Dr. Carter at the cellular level.”

“Which means?”

“She’ll, um, disintegrate.”

“Ooh,” Janet grimaced. “That’s not good.”

Sam shook her head with a sigh. “No, no it’s not.”

“And the baby?”

“Since the baby doesn’t exist in this reality, it won’t. But I suspect that she’ll miscarry before it gets that far.”

“The cellular stability of the uterus will break down causing a termination of the pregnancy?”

“Something like that,” said Sam.

“Damn, damn,” said Janet. “There’s no way to stop this?”

“Well,” said Sam, “The only way we can is if we send her back.”

“And if she goes back, the Goa’uld will kill her.”

“Right,” said Sam.

Janet picked up a pen from the cup on her desk and twisted it between her fingers. “What if we stopped the Goa’uld in her reality?”

“How could we do that?” Sam asked, feeling helpless. “They had six months to try and figure out how to stop the Goa’uld using all of the resources of our world. We have a couple of weeks, tops.”

“What about the resources of our world?” Janet asked.

“What do we have that they don’t have?” Sam asked. Events in her personal life might be radically different between the realities, but from what she’d gathered, technologically they were at exactly the same place.

Janet frowned and chewed on the end of her pen. “Our...fate?”

Sam gave a bitter laugh. “I’ll get right on packaging that up.”

Her best friend ignored the sarcastic comment. “What kept us from being attacked by the Goa’uld?”

Sam leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs. “Well, for one, we knew it was coming. Daniel brought back accurate intelligence from the world he visited that gave us an advantage.”

“What else?” Janet pressed.

“I don’t know...without a detailed timeline to compare it would be impossible to say…”

Janet groaned and stuffed her pen back into the cup with more force than necessary.

Sam understood her friend’s frustration. She could feel the same frustration seething just below the surface of her skin. She wished she could just whip up a magical solution out of thin air, or snap her fingers and get the Asgard there to set everything right.

She froze.

The Asgard.

“If she can make contact with the Asgard in her reality, maybe her Asgard would be willing to help.”

“To defend her world against the Goa’uld?”

A light hope bubbled up inside of her, dispelling the frustration. “Yes.”

“How can we contact the Asgard in that reality?”

“I still have the dialing program that took the colonel to their home planet. We could download it to a removeable hard drive...oh, but that still won’t do.” Sam frowned and rubbed her temples.

“Why not?”

“Remember, in order to dial the Asgard homeworld they had to provide us with a generator that transferred extra energy to the gate’s capacitors. But, I haven’t been able to get it to work again. Apparently it was designed to work only once.”

“What if you and Dr. Carter tackled the problem together? I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, Sam, but sometimes the two of you are scarily in sync.”

It could work, Sam realized. Not only would she have someone on the exact same wavelength to assist her, she’d also have the benefit of a fresh perspective. And maybe there had been some minor technological differences that she hadn’t yet uncovered that would give Dr. Carter a slight edge in unraveling the mysteries of the Asgard generator. At the very least, it would be nice to work with someone who wasn’t completely annoying, or incompetent (or both) for once.

“I need to go talk to General Hammond,” Sam said, jumping to her feet.

“Go, go,” Janet said, a hopeful expression spreading across her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I totally took one of Daniel's best moments from the episode and gave it to Janet and Sam, but I felt like it fit better here than later on in the briefing room. It just seemed like the sort of conversation that the two of them might have had, trying to come up with a solution. I think that sometimes Sam's portrayed as single handily coming up with brilliant solutions, but I've observed that her great ideas often come after talking about the problem with someone else or considering their comments/perspective. 
> 
> Also, the conversation between Sam, Samantha and Lottie about the kittens was inspired by listening to my nieces and nephews trying to wheedle extra Easter candy out of my mother-in-law!
> 
> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
